GB Regional Drug Misuse Database

In 1982 the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) published a report Treatment and Rehabilitation which recommended that local drug teams be set up to collect information. Responding to this recommendation, the Department of Health issued a circular to the NHS requesting a review of the prevalence of drug misuse. In 1986, a drug misuse database was developed by the Drug Research Unit at the University of Manchester. In 1989, the Department commissioned the Unit to adapt the database for use by the NHS regional health authorities (RHAs), and issued a circular requesting RHAs to set up databases to monitor trends in drug misuse and the use of drug misuse services. The Scottish Drug Misuse Database is the regional database for Scotland.

The Government Statistical Service based at the Department of Health, London, issues a bi-annual Statistical Bulletin containing data collated from the Regional Drug Misuse Databases. Included in these bulletins are figures relating to Great Britain, allowing a wider picture of problem drug misuse to be illustrated.

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