Remember, you cannot help to keep them safe if you don’t know what’s going on. If they do come to you, think together about what will help make sure they’re safe. There is also always a risk of poisoning, having a bad reaction, or drinking or taking too much. If you’re concerned about your drinking or drug use but aren’t sure what steps to take, you can find lots of information and advice here.
Report dangerous drugs
Our tenth annual #MedSafetyWeek campaign runs from 3 to 9 November 2025. Always read the patient information leaflet, or instructions supplied with your medicine or medical device. It lists the known side effects or problems and advises you on what to do.
Al-Anon Family Groups
6 Sep Report and tables from NHS England on the smoking (including electronic cigarette use), alcohol drinking, and drugs among young people in England. Despite the self-completion methodology of the survey, which is intended to encourage honest answers, disclosure issues still exist around willingness to report drug use.
Prevalence of drug use also varied by a range of other personal characteristics. For example, those who were single were significantly more likely to have used a drug in the past buy drugs online year (16%) compared with those who were married (3.2%). For the year ending June 2022, the proportion of adults reporting any drug use in the last year was highest among those aged 20 to 24 years (23.3%).
The drugs are listed in alphabetical order by pharmacy (generic) name and brand name. It should also be recognised that levels of drug use are relatively low, and the use of some drugs such as heroin are particularly rare and only have a small number of users. The range of variability for these drugs will be quite large because of sampling variability so figures will be liable to fluctuation from year to year. The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) is recognised as a good measure of drug use for the drug types and population it covers. However, it does not provide as good coverage of problematic drug use, as such users may not be a part of the household resident population that is covered by the survey.
- Drug misuse in England and Wales Dataset
These numbers underline that while heroin and alcohol remain at the heart of treatment demand, other drugs are steadily pulling people into services as well. Your experience can ensure that all healthcare products can continue their positive impact on peoples’ lives, by helping the MHRA identify new safety issues as early as possible. The R3 service offers a wide range of support to individuals and their families who wish to receive advice, assessment, and treatment for their drug and/or alcohol problems. We’re working towards a future free from harm caused by alcohol, drug and mental health challenges, where anyone seeking help feels welcomed, not judged. We published a mixed-methods research compendium (March 2022) evaluating issues concerning the drugs and alcohol workforce in Scotland.