§ Mr. MacleanTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people in the United Kingdom undertake methadone treatment for heroin or cocaine addiction. [45662]
§ Ms JowellThe available information shows that during the six month period ending 30 September 1996, 19,191 heroin users and 3,593 cocaine users presented to services in Great Britain with problem drug misuse for the first time or for the first time for six months or more. There is some double counting in these figures because some users reported misusing both heroin and cocaine. Reliable information is not currently available on the number of these users receiving methadone treatment. Methadone is not prescribed for the treatment of cocaine misuse.
The figures given were published in the Statistical Bulletin "Drug Misuse Statistics for the six months ending September 1996", copies of which are available in the Library. The next Statistical Bulletin, for the six months ending March 1997, is due to be published on Wednesday 17 June 1998.