Data from Public Health England about young people under the age of 18 who were engaged in substance misuse treatment in 2012-13

1. Young People’s Drug
Treatment in 2012-13
Statistics from the National
Drug Treatment Monitoring
System (NDTMS)

2. “Adequate investment in young people’s substance
misuse services helps prevent today’s troubled young
people becoming tomorrow’s dependant alcohol and
drug users. PHE will continue to provide the best
available data and evidence to support local
commissioners in making their case for investment.”
“Problematic drink and drug use among young people
is often a symptom of wider issues that also need to
be addressed. There is a continuing need for local
areas to provide a full range of services for young
people and to ensure those services work in a joinedup way.”
Rosanna O’Connor, Public Health England
Director of Alcohol and Drugs

3. Key facts about treatment for under
18s
• The number of young people accessing treatment is
falling (down by 8.8% since 2010/11) but there were
still just over 20k accessing those services in England.
• Most referrals are still coming from Youth Offending
Teams (30%), but a significant proportion are through
schools and other education settings (24%).
• Over half (51%) were in mainstream education, a
further 19% were in alternative education (either PRU
or similar) by contrast 19% were NEET and 2% were
in employment.
• Over 80% described themselves as white British.

4. • Cannabis (68%) or alcohol (24%) remain the
primary substances that lead to treatment,
but 80% seem to be using other substances
too.
• 12,947 young people exited specialist
substance misuse services in 2012-13 and
10,208 (79%) of these did so because they
no longer needed young people specialist
interventions (they were all referred to other
children’s services).

5. Age and sex of young people
accessing substance misuse
treatment services
4,500
4,000
3,500
3,000
2,500
Female
Male
2,000
1,500
1,000
500
<12
12
13
14
15
16
17

6. Numbers in treatment by primary
and adjunctive substances used
16,000
14,000
12,000
10,000
8,000
6,000
4,000
2,000
-
Primary
Adjunctive

7. Age of those in treatment for
cannabis and alcohol
4,000
3,500
3,000
2,500
2,000
Cannabis
Alcohol
1,500
1,000
500
<12
12
13
14
15
16
17

8. Source of referral into treatment
8000
7000
6000
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0

9. 8,000
7,000
6,000
5,000
4,000
3,000
2,000
1,000
-
17-18
16-17
15-16
14-15
13-14
12-13
<12

10. Numbers in treatment for cannabis
and alcohol
16,000
14,000
12,000
10,000
8,000
6,000
4,000
2,000
-
Cannabis
Alcohol

11. Data source
• Substance misuse among young
people: the data for 2012-13
• http://www.nta.nhs.uk/statistics.aspx