‘Meow Meow’ main problem for bigger chunk of local users

Drug users reported cannabis (75 per cent) and mephedrone (38 per cent) as the most commonly used drugs here, according to new data from the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (DHSSPS).

They also reported the drugs as the first and second most common main problem drugs for users in the area respectively.

Only in the Southern Trust (40 users - 17 per cent) did a bigger proportion of drug users report mephedrone/methedrone as their main problem drug.

The former legal highs didn’t figure at all in the Northern Trust and Belfast Trust whilst in the South Eastern Trust 11 drug users (11 per cent) said it was their main problem.

Of 301 drug users who received treatment last year - 12 per cent of all the treated drug users in Northern Ireland - 166 (55 per cent) reported their main problem drug as cannabis whilst 46 (15 per cent) said it was mephedrone/methedrone.

Other problem drugs were opiates (22 patients - 7 per cent), ecstasy (12 patients - 4 per cent) and benzodiazepines (12 patients - four per cent).

The average age of drug users treated in the Western Trust was 27; 10 (3 per cent) had injected before; and 78 (26 per cent) had been treated before.

The latest drug statistics have been newly released by DHSSPS from the Northern Ireland Drug Misuse Database: 1 April 2010 – 31 March 2011.

The figures show twelve per cent of people who presented for drug misuse treatment last year did so in the Western Trust, the third highest concentration in Northern Ireland. The incidence of treatment here was the second highest in NI with 101 for every 100,000 people.

As mentioned above cannabis was the most frequently reported main problem drug in the Western Trust. Fifty-five per cent of patients here declared cannabis to be their main problem drug followed by 47 per cent in the Southern HSCT, 42 per cent in the Northern HSCT, and 38 per cent in the Belfast HSCT.

The proportion who reported cannabis as their main problem drug dipped from 64 per cent in 2009/10 to 55 per cent in 2010/11.

Formerly legal, now illegal highs mephedrone/methedrone were the second most commonly used drugs here (38 per cent).

The survey shows that heroin usage and injecting behaviour were a minimal problem here. The Western Trust has the lowest proportion of clients with a known injecting history (3 per cent) compared to almost three tenths (28 per cent) in the Northern HSCT and 5 per cent in the Belfast HSCT.

But the Western HSCT (99 per cent) also had the largest proportion of clients who had not had any injections of the Hepatitis B vaccination, followed by the Southern and Belfast HSCTs (97 per cent), and the South Eastern HSCT (94 per cent).

Whilst patients were not allowed to record booze as the main problem drug or as one of the four subsidiary drugs patients could still record alcohol use, the average units consumed per week in the last four weeks and whether or not alcohol is their main problem.

The largest proportions of clients who reported problem alcohol use were in the Southern (59 per cent), Western (51 per cent) and South Eastern (51 per cent) HSCTs.

In terms of the age of the drugs patients, 68 per cent of clients aged under 18 years; 62 per cent of clients aged 18-25 years; and 46 per cent of clients aged 26 years and over in the Western Trust reported cannabis as their main problem drug. Sixteen per cent of clients aged 18-25 years and 11 per cent of clients aged 26 years and over reported mephedrone/methedrone as their main problem drug.

Equally, the proportion of clients here aged under 18 years was 5 per cent in 2009/10 compared to 15 per cent in 2010/11. The proportion of clients aged 18-25 years was 36 per cent in 2009/10 compared to 37 per cent in 2010/11, whereas the proportion of clients aged 26 years and over was 59 per cent in 2009/10 and 49 per cent in 2010/11.