§ Mr. FlynnTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will give for(a) the United Kingdom and (b) the Netherlands, (i) the number of heroin addicts per 1,000 of the population, (ii) the average age of heroin addicts, (iii) the number of deaths from ecstacy, (iv) the number of deaths from glue sniffing and (v) the number of cannabis users per 1,000 of the population, in each of the past five years. [29134]
§ Mr. George HowarthInformation relating to the Netherlands cannot be provided.
The number of heroin addicts per 1,000 of the United Kingdom population notified to the Home Office in each year from 1992 to 1996 was 0.2924, 0.3251, 0.3821, 0.4186 and 0.5199 respectively. Information concerning the average age of these addicts is not available. However, the average age for all notified addicts, of whom between 66 and 70 per cent were addicted to heroin, in the years in question was 29.4, 29.2, 28.8, 28.7 and 28.4 years.
With regard to the number of deaths from ecstasy and glue sniffing, I refer my hon. Friend to the reply given to him by my hon. Friend the Economic Secretary to the Treasury on 21 January 1998, Official Report, columns 533–34.
Information concerning the number of 'cannabis users' per 1,000 of the United Kingdom population is not available. However, the British Crime Survey 1996 (which covers England and Wales) indicates that about 9 per cent. of persons in the 16–59 age group had used cannabis in the year prior to interview.