§ Mr. Christopher Priceasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many new narcotic addicts were notified to the Home Office for 1972 to 1981 inclusive; how many of these notifications were received from (a) hospitals (b) general medical practitioners and (c) prison medical officers for the same period; and what was the percentage increase year by year of first notifications from each source for the same period.
§ Mr. Mayhew[pursuant to the reply, 26 February 1982, c. 512]: The information is as follows:
175W
TABLE 1 New narcotic drug addicts notified to the Home Office by first source of notification and year United Kingdom Number of persons Source of notification Year Total Hospital/ treatment centre* General medical practitioner* Prison medical officer* 1972 800 480 80 250 1973 807 430 150 230 1974 870 380 250 240 1975 922 390 260 270 1976 984 400 290 290 1977 1,109 450 370 290 1978 1,347 590 520 240 1979 1,597 610 720 270 1980 1,600 570 790 240 1981† 2,300 760 1,220 320 *Estimated breakdown; the numbers have been rounded independently and so may not add to the total shown. †Provisional.
TABLE 2 Percentages change from the previous year in new narcotic drug addicts notified to the Home Office by first source of notification and year. United Kingdom Percentage Year Total Hospital/treatment centre* General medical practitioner* Prison medical officer* 1973 +1 -9 +97 -9 1974 +8 -12 +68 +6 1975 +6 +1 +7 +13 1976 +7 +4 +10 +8 1977 +13 +12 +27 -1 1978 +21 +31 +40 -17 1979 +19 +3 +38 +14 1980 — -6 +10 -10 1981† +44 +33 +55 +31 *Estimated breakdown. † Provisional.