Trends

Facts and figures

• In the UK 1 in 12 take ‘legal highs’ - NPS
• 6,486 people were treated in hospital after using legal highs in England, an increase of 39 per cent in six years

No Quick Fix report - Exposing the depth of Britain’s drug and alcohol problem 
www.centreforsocialjustice.org.uk/UserStorage/pdf/

• Deaths linked to new psychoactive substances - also known as legal highs - increased sharply from 29 in 2011 to 52 in 2012. An increase of 80%.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS)
www.ons.gov.uk

• The numbers of young people in the UK aged 15-24 who have taken a ‘legal high’ is estimated to be 670,000 (or 8.2 percent) – the highest in Europe

United Nations, World Drug Report 2013, UN, 2013
www.unodc.org/unodc/secured/wdr/wdr2013/World_Drug_Report_2013.pdf  

• The UK is now one of the leading hubs for the internet-based dealing of NPS
• There are over 130 sites registered in the UK providing a range of legal highs
• Internet sites selling NPS and shipping them to EU member states rose from 170 in January 2010 to 690 in January 2012

Report of the International Narcotics Control Board, United Nations Office, 2013
http://incb.org/documents/Publications/AnnualReports/AR2012/AR_2012_E.pdf

• 73 New psychoactive substances were detected in 2012

EU Drug Markets Report
http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/attachements.cfm/att_194349_EN_Case%20study%...