The findngs come from a report representing people who have made use of - and still make use of - services for drug and/or alcohol misuse for the first time - or the first time in six months in NI.
The findings may not be what you expect.
See it here
1.
In Northern Ireland in 2019/20, a total of 4,264 clients were recorded on the Substance Misuse Database as having presented to services for problem substance misuse. More than one-third of clients presented to services indicating problem drug use only (35.8%, 1,525); just under one-third presented indicating problem alcohol use only (32.8%, 1,397); 31.5% of clients presented to services indicating both drug and alcohol misuse (1,342 clients).
2.
Cannabis was the most commonly used drug with almost two-thirds of clients who use drugs reporting taking it (65.2%). This was followed by Cocaine (45.8%); Benzodiazepines (31.4%); Pregabalin (21.8%) and Ecstasy (16.2%).
3.
More than one in ten drug use clients reported ever having injected (13.9%); of those who had injected, more than a quarter (26.9%) reported having shared injecting equipment at some time. Photo: AFP
4.
During 2019/20 a total of 4,264 clients were recorded on the Substance Misuse database as having presented to treatment for substance use; of these 67.2% indicated drugs misuse (2,867 clients) and 64.2% indicated misuse of alcohol (2,739 clients). The most common age group for clients presenting to treatment was 26-39 years for both drug misuse only clients (39.7%), and for drug & alcohol misuse clients (44.3%). However clients accessing services for misuse of alcohol only tended to be in older age-groups with the most common age group being 40 years and over (71.5%). Photo: TSPL