Safer Communities and Justice Statistics Monthly Data Report: September 2024

Summary statistics on drugs

The proportion of adults reporting use of comparable illicit drugs rose between 2008-09 and 2018-20. Results from the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS) showed that in 2018-20, 9.7% of respondents reported taking one or more of these drugs in the 12 months prior to interview. This was an increase from 7.6% in 2008-09 and 7.4% in 2017-18. The drugs listed in the survey questionnaire are the same for both 2017-18 and 2018-20, enabling a direct comparison.

One in eight people used illicit drugs in 2021. The most recently published statistics, from the 2021 Scottish Health Survey, showed that 12% of respondents used one or more of these types of drugs in the 12 months before interview. This is a different survey and, although the methodology is similar, the results may be different in a survey focused on health rather than crime. As a result this estimate is not shown as continuous with the SCJS.

To have a more comparable measure since 2008-09, the figures in this chart exclude poppers, glues, solvents, gas or aerosol and prescription only painkillers not prescribed to the respondent.