Written question asked by Paul Flynn (Labour) on Wednesday, 25 July 2007, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 8 October 2007. It was answered by Lord Coaker (Labour) on Monday, 8 October 2007 on behalf of the Home Office.

Drugs

Question: (2) what indicators her Department uses to measure the impact of changing the status of a drug within the ABC classification system on (a) levels of illicit drug use and (b) levels of drug-related harm; and if she will make a statement.

Answer: The indicators used to measure illicit drug use and drug-related harm are not predicated on the Acceptable Behaviour Contract (ABC) classification system.Indicators on prevalence of illicit drug use among the general adult population in England and Wales are set out in reports based on the annual British Crime Survey. Indicators relating to children of school age are published in reports of the annual survey of smoking, drinking and drug use among secondary schoolchildren in England. The Drug Harm Index (DHI) provides an overall measure of the level of drug-related harm and how it changes over time. The operation of the DHI is set out in Measuring the harm from illegal drugs using the Drug Harm Index (Home Office Online Report 24/05).

Secondary information