§ Mr. Parkasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the percentage increase in the number of registered drug addicts in the West Midlands and Coventry health authorities respectively since 1970; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. MellorThe available information about the number of notified drug addicts relates to police force areas and is given in the following table. These statistics were not available before 1973 and are not yet available for 1983.
Narcotic drug addicts notified to the Home Office and the number of addicts recorded as receiving notifiable drugs in treatment of their addiction at 31 December West Midlands RHA Number of persons Police force area New addicts notified during year Former addicts notified during year Addicts recorded at 31 December West Midlands 1973 24 4 39 1982 105 27 140 Percentage change +338 +575 +259 Staffordshire, Warwickshire, West Mercia and West Midlands (West Midlands regional health authority) 1973 41 9 70 1982 145 40 194 Percentage change +254 +344 +177