LONDON, United Kingdom – March 2018: A study on people receiving specialist treatment interventions for drug and alcohol misuse in secure settings (e.g. treatment services in prisons, young offender institutions and immigration removal centres) during 2016-17 in the United Kingdom, shows that 4,816 (8.1 per cent) of adults aged 18 and above were presented for problematic NPS use treatment. In these cases, NPS were either the only substance or one of several substances of problematic use. Problematic NPS use figures for 2016-17, signify an increase from 2015-16 when 6 per cent of adults aged 18 and above were presented for problematic NPS use treatment in secure settings.*

However, among the 1,362 young people receiving specialist substance misuse treatment in the United Kingdom in secure settings in 2016-17, only 5 per cent cited problematic NPS use which signifies a decrease from 9 per cent in 2015-16.

* These figures do not necessarily represent all NPS use in secure settings but rather reflect the number of individuals who report their NPS use as problematic to a healthcare or substance misuse practitioner.

For more information, please see:

National Drug Treatment Monitoring System (NDTMS) report on the secure setting statistics - 1 April 2016 to 31 March 2017
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/677500/OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE_secure_setting_annual_report_2016-17FINAL-v1.2.pdf