Drug Use Statistics UK 2025: Trends, Data, and Insights on Drug Misuse in England and Wales
An overview of the extent and trends of illicit Drug Use Statistics UK. Data are from the Crime Survey for England and Wales.
Table of Contents
Main Points
Overall Trends in Drug Misuse
Frequency of Drug Use in the Last Year
Drug User Characteristics
Obtaining Drugs
Data on Drug Misuse in England and Wales
Glossary
1. Main Points | Drug Use Statistics UK
The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) estimated 8.8% of people aged 16 to 59 years(around 2.9 million people) reported using any drug in the last 12 months for the year ending (YE) March 2024; there was no statistically significant change compared with YE March 2024.
Around 3.0% of people (approximately 1 million people) reported using a Class A drug in the last 12 months; there was no statistically significant change from the previous year.
Cannabis use decreased to 6.8% of people (around 2.3 million people) from 7.6% (around 2.5 million people) in the previous year, returning to levels seen a decade ago.Drug Use Statistics UK
Use of nitrous oxide and crack cocaine decreased compared with the previous year, from 1.3% to 0.9% and 0.1% to 0.03%, respectively; magic mushroom use increased from 0.8% to 1.1%.
Around 1.8% of people were frequent drug users (more than once a month); this is a decrease from the previous year (2.3%).
Drug use was higher among people aged 16 to 24 years, with 16.5% reporting any usage; there was no statistically significant change compared with the previous year.
2. Overall Trends in Drug Use Statistics UK
Any Drug Use
The CSEW estimated 8.8% of people aged 16 to 59 years (approximately 2.9 million people) and 16.5% of people aged 16 to 24 years (around 971,000 people) used “any drug” in the past 12 months in the year ending (YE) March 2024.
There was no statistically significant change in the prevalence of any drug use for people aged 16 to 59 years compared with YE March 2023 (9.5%) and YE March 2014 (8.8%).
Any Class A Drug Use
In YE March 2024, 3.0% of people aged 16 to 59 years (around one million people) and 5.5% of people aged 16 to 24 years (approximately 327,000 people) had taken a Class A drug in the last year.
Trends in Use of Individual Drug Types
Cannabis: 6.8% of people aged 16 to 59 years and 13.8% of people aged 16 to 24 years reported using cannabis in the last year.
Powder Cocaine: No statistically significant change in prevalence for people aged 16 to 59 years (2.1%) and 16 to 24 years (3.8%).
Nitrous Oxide: 0.9% of people aged 16 to 59 years had used nitrous oxide, a decrease from YE March 2023 (1.3%).
Magic Mushrooms: Use increased from 0.8% to 1.1% in people aged 16 to 59 years.
3. Frequency of Drug Use in the Last Year
The CSEW estimated 1.8% of people aged 16 to 59 years (around 610,000 people) were frequent drug users in YE March 2024, a decrease from YE March 2023 (2.3%).
Around 73.7% of people aged 16 to 59 years who used any drug in the last year were infrequent users, with half (50.3%) taking them only “once or twice.”
4. Drug User Characteristics
Younger people aged 16 to 24 years (16.5%) were more likely to report any drug use in the last year compared with older people aged 25 to 59 years (7.2%).
Marital Status: Those who were married or in a civil partnership were less likely to have used a drug in the past year (3.6%) compared with those who were single (14.5%).
Household Income: People with household incomes of less than £10,400 per year were more likely to have used cannabis (10.7%) than those with higher incomes.
5. Obtaining Drugs
A friend, neighbour, or colleague was the most common source of illegal drugs (48.9%) and nitrous oxide or new psychoactive substances (NPS) (37.8%) among people aged 16 to 59 years.
39.2% of people aged 16 to 59 years claimed it would be “very” or “fairly” easy to obtain illegal drugs within 24 hours, similar to YE March 2023 (38.0%).
Any Drug: Includes cannabis, cocaine, ecstasy, heroin, LSD, magic mushrooms, and nitrous oxide.
Any Class A Drug: Includes cocaine (crack and powder), ecstasy, heroin, LSD, magic mushrooms, methadone, and methamphetamine.
Frequent Drug User: Defined as someone who has taken a drug more than once a month in the last year.
8. Data Sources and Quality
Data are sourced from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW), an accredited official statistics source.
The CSEW provides consistent measures of drug use, but it may underestimate levels due to underreporting and exclusion of certain populations (e.g., homeless individuals, prisoners).
