Drug Misuse: adults

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Information on the extent of illicit drug use is derived from surveys of samples of the general population. Collecting accurate information on illicit drug use is notoriously difficult because of its hidden and illegal nature. Surveys vary in terms of the number of participants and the degree to which they are representative of the wider population and, therefore, some caution is needed in interpretation of estimates.

The Scottish Crime and Victimisation Survey is one source of information on illicit drug use among adults. Some of the findings from this survey are summarised below

• In the 2004 survey, it was estimated that 7.7% of the adult population (aged 16-59 years) had used illicit drugs during the previous year, compared with 9.5% in 2003.
• The most commonly reported illicit drug used is cannabis, with 8% of adults surveyed in 2003 and 6.3% in 2004 reporting cannabis use within the last year.
• Higher levels of drug misuse are seen among males than females across all available data sources. The 2004 Scottish Crime and Victimisation Survey found that 8.6% of males reported illicit drug use in the previous month, compared to 6.7% of females. The Scottish Drug Misuse Database shows a similar pattern across all age groups (see Chart 1).