FactCheck: is drug use at 11-year low?
Updated on 27 February 2008
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith says it's at an 11-year low. But that's only half the story...
The claim
"Drug use is at an 11-year low."
Jacqui Smith, home secretary, 27 February 2008
The background
Tackling drug use has been a priority since Labour came to power. Its 1997 manifesto promised action on the "vicious circle of drugs and crime [that] wrecks lives and threatens communities".
In 1998, the government unveiled its 10-year anti-drugs strategy - a cross-departmental effort which included treatment for those with drug problems.
The strategy also introduced steps to reduce drug misuse among young people, drug-related crime and anti-social behaviour, and the availability of drugs on the street.
Fast forward a decade, and things seem to have paid off. On the day the government announced its second 10-year plan, the home secretary claimed that drug use is at its lowest in 11 years.
Is she right?
The analysis
The most reliable official data on drug use comes from the annual British Crime Survey, which asks 50,000 16- to 59-year-olds about their experiences of crime over the past year.
Questions on drug use have been included since 1996.
The most recent data (2006-07) shows 10 per cent of those surveyed had taken drugs in the past year. This is indeed the lowest proportion since 1996, when 11.1 per cent of people admitted drug use in the past year.
The decline is mainly due to a decrease in the use of cannabis since 2003/04. But at the same time, the use of the most serious class A drugs has increased.
The 10 per cent figure is even more impressive, at least from a party political point of view, when looked at in comparison with the 1998 data - reflecting drug use when Labour came to power.
This showed 12.1 per cent of people to have taken drugs in the previous 12 months.
So has it been a steady fall since Labour took office? Not exactly.
The figure clung around the 12 per cent mark, hitting 12.3 per cent in 2003/04, before tailing off pretty rapidly to today's 10 per cent.
The decline is mainly due to a decrease in the use of cannabis since 2003/04. But at the same time, the use of the most serious class A drugs has increased.
In both 1996 and 1998, 2.7 per cent of people said they had taken class As in the past year. The number then rose to 3.5 per cent in 2003/04, dropped to 3.2 per cent the following year, then sneaked back up to 3.4 per cent in the two most recent years.
Let's delve deeper.
Within the class A category, use of heroin has remained pretty stable over the 11-year period, but cocaine use has shot up.
In 1996, just 0.6 per cent of those surveyed said they'd taken cocaine in the past year. By 2000, the proportion was two per cent - nearly a fourfold increase.
Since then, it's remained comparatively stable, increasing to 2.5 per cent in 2003/04 and dropping back to two per cent in the following year.
But last year's figure put cocaine use at its highest yet - 2.6 per cent, or a 0.2 percentage point year-on-year increase.
Patterns are particularly pronounced among young people, who are more likely to use drugs than their older counterparts and on whom the government has focused particular attention.
In 1996, 29.7 per cent of 16- to 24-year-olds had taken drugs in the past year. In 1998, the figure was 31.8 per cent - the highest on record.
After a few downs and ups, it dropped to 24.1 per cent in 2006/07.
But again, class A - and specifically, cocaine - use showed a different pattern.
In 1996, just 1.4 per cent of 16- to 24-year-olds had used cocaine. In 1998, 3.2 per cent had and in 2000, 5.4 per cent. Since then, the figure has fluctuated slightly - but hit record levels in the past two years, with 5.9 per cent using the drug in 2005/06 and 6.1 per cent in 2006/07.
And what about in even younger people? The BCS figures are the most comprehensive drug use data around - but they exclude under- 16s.
In 1998, 11 per cent of 11- to 15-year-olds in England had used drugs in the last year, and seven per cent in the last month, according to a different set of official statistics.
In 2006, 17 per cent reported taking drugs in the last year, and nine per cent in the last month.
Both these represented a fall since 2001, when 20 per cent had taken drugs in the past year, and 11 per cent in the past month. But they don't exactly back up the government's long-term decline claim, either.
The verdict
The home secretary's claim is broadly right - but it doesn't tell the whole story.
Overall drug use - or at least, overall drug use among 16- to 59-year-olds - is at an 11-year low. This is also a record low - although as records only back 11 years, that's maybe not quite as impressive as it sounds.
But within the headline figure, use of the most dangerous class A drugs has increased, particularly among young people, where cocaine use has now hit a record high.
The figures for 11- to 15-year-olds also show a recent drop in reported drug use - but a hefty increase since 1998.
FactCheck rating: 2
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The sources
Home Office
Drug Misuse Declared: Findings from the 2006/07 British Crime Survey, England and Wales (PDF)
NHS Information Centre: Statistics on Drug Misuse, England, 2007 (full report)
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