PHS FOI 2023-001664
- Date of request
- 21 August 2023
- Date of response
- 13 September 2023
- FOI request ID
- PHS FOI 2023-001664
- Drugs
Request
“Can PHS provide stats on the number of people using crack cocaine in Scotland in each the past five years? Can you break this data down by council or health board area?
I'd be grateful if you could please distinguish between crack cocaine and powdered cocaine use in any stats provided.
To help explain why I'm asking; we've been seeing quite a few cases in the Tayside and Fife sheriff courts (often break-ins/thefts) linked specifically to crack cocaine use when we weren't before. Local lawyers have told us it's become a problem drug for more of their clients over the last couple of years. This is purely observational, so we're keen to see whether there's any data out there to back it up. If there is a trend, we'd then explore reasons why more people might be using cocaine in this form, the impact it's having and what more can be done to combat the issue.”