1. Young people, substance misuse and PHE
Jez Stannard, Senior programme manager (alcohol, drugs and tobacco division)

2. summary Explain what we know about prevalence of use
Summarise the advice PHE gives to LAs around the YP substance misuse prevention and treatment agenda
Set the scene around specialist substance misuse services (treatment) and the data from the latest annual report – including some London specific data
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3. Prevalence
Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use survey (now biennial) shows a continued national decrease in prevalence amongst year olds
….But it has its limitations
What about the What About YOUth survey?
Unfortunately this does mean that we don’t have reliable, comprehensive local level prevalence data
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4. SDD survey – key data
- Around 240,000 pupils aged between 11 and 15 had drunk alcohol in the past week, 180,000 had taken drugs in the last month, and 310,000 had taken drugs in the last year
38% had tried alcohol at least once (lowest proportion since the survey began recording alcohol use in 1988)
Drug use declined between 2001 and 2010 and since 2010 the decline has slowed. In 2014
15% had ever taken drugs, 10% had taken drugs in the last year, and 6% had taken drugs in the last month. This is the lowest proportion since the survey started recording drug use in 1998
- Pupils were more likely to have taken cannabis than any other drug. 2.5% of pupils said that they had ever taken NPS
- Pupils who had truanted or been excluded from school were more likely than other pupils to say that they took drugs once a month or more or that they had taken Class A drugs in the last year
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5. We mainly provide advice to LAs through the PHE JSNA commissioning prompts
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6. Main advice PHE gives to LA commissioners is via the annual JSNA commissioning prompts:
Covers:
Universal and targeted evidence base prevention
Specialist treatment
On universal:
“Approaches that focus on reducing risk and increasing resilience are more effective than those that focus on topic specific programmes and interventions”
We commission Mentor-ADEPIS for schools and prevention practitioners
On targeted:
Link to other vulnerable groups
On specialist
Detailed advice on what should be commissioned
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7. PHE published the 2015-16 young people’s annual treatment stats on 12
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8. Declining no’s of YP entering treatment (17,077, a drop of 1,272 or 7% compared to ). Continues a downward trend, year-on-year, since a peak of 24,053 in
The most common presenting substance continues to be cannabis. More than four-fifths (87%) of young people had a problem with t compared to 86% in The numbers in treatment for cannabis as a primary substance have been on an upward trend since , although numbers have dipped slightly in the last two years
Alcohol is the next most commonly cited problematic substance with just under half the young people in treatment (48%) seeking help for its misuse during However, numbers in treatment for alcohol problems have been declining steadily in recent years and this figure is much lower than the two-thirds (67%) reported in
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9. Other substances:
1,605 cited problematic ecstasy use (9%)
1,477 cocaine (9%)
1,152 amphetamine (7%)
1,056 (6%) with concerns around the use of new psychoactive substances (NPS)
Not seeing no’s coming into treatment around NPS that perhaps we would expect
Main referral routes are via education provision (28%), youth justice services (26%), and children’s social care (14%). The proportion of referrals from the youth justice system have declined in recent years while the proportion of referrals from education has increased
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10. Link with other vulnerabilities
Majority of young people in treatment have multiple risks/vulnerabilities:
other problems or vulnerabilities (i.e. mental health problems, being ‘looked after’ or not being in education, training or employment )
wider factors that can impact on substance use (i.e. offending, self- harming, experiencing sexual exploitation or domestic abuse)
NDTMS collects 7 vulnerability items:
83% have two or more vulnerabilities
59% have three or more
38% have 2 or more
Sexual exploitation: Six per cent (6%) in compared to 5% in Significantly higher among females (14%) than males (just over 1%)
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11. Some London specific data
London
3,555
3,524
3,363
3,120
% change compared to previous year -
-1%
-5%
-7%
National
20,718
19,788
18,949
17,593
-4%
No’s in treatment in London have been declining at roughly the same rate as nationally
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12. (marginally) more cannabis and nicotine
(marginally) more cannabis and nicotine. Less alcohol, ecstasy, cocaine, amphetamine and NPS than nationally
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13. Young people in treatment in London have less vulnerability factors than nationally
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14. Things that are in the pipeline
New government national Drug Strategy is imminent (the last one was – 2015). We fully expect prevention and treatment to be centre stage
(Link to last is
New UK guidelines on clinical management of drug misuse and dependence (updating the 2007 edition) – covers young people
(Link to last is
NICE activity updating guidelines on prevention, and alcohol school based interventions
CONTACT:
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