The Department has published clinical guidance on drug misuse and dependence which includes a section on the criminal justice system and stresses that take-home naloxone for previously heroin-dependent prisoners is important as they leave prison and enter a very high-risk period. The guidance advises that commissioners should agree with prison health and community providers on how best to facilitate support for naloxone provision on release.

On release from prison, NHS Substance Misuse teams in custody settings provide patients at risk of an opioid overdose who have given their consent with take home naloxone kits and training on how to use them.

The Government has amended the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 to expand access to naloxone by enabling more services and professionals to supply naloxone without needing a prescription. The Department published guidance on the GOV.UK website in 2025 setting out essential practical information such as who can supply naloxone, the products available, how to use naloxone, and other basic lifesaving tools, and the training required.

In addition to the changes made in 2024, we published a United Kingdom wide public consultation which closed on 9 March, to seek views on further legislative options to expand access to take-home and emergency use naloxone. We are analysing the responses to this consultation, and we will be setting out the next steps soon.

The available estimates of the cost to the National Health Service of treating conditions caused and exacerbated by tobacco and alcohol are shown in the following table:

Smoking is estimated to cost society £21.9 billion per year in England.

Estimates for drug use are more limited but based on data from the Office for National Statistics and the independent review of drugs by Professor Dame Carol Black, the harms associated with wholly drug-related hospital admissions are estimated at £37 million. This cost includes admissions for mental and behavioural disorders, overdoses and poisonings, and drug-related neonatal disorders.

Comparisons of costs should not be made between estimates above because of the different methodologies used in their construction.

Local authorities are responsible for commissioning drug and alcohol treatment services according to local need, including the provision of pharmaceuticals such as methadone and long-acting injectable buprenorphine.

From 2026/27, funding for drug and alcohol treatment and recovery is provided through the Department’s ringfenced Public Health Grant. The Department encourages local authorities to prioritise appropriate investment in evidence-based interventions and treatments.

National Health Service commercial arrangements for pharmaceuticals are primarily established to support the procurement of medicines for NHS-funded services. The Department has no current plans to establish separate national commercial agreements specifically for pharmaceuticals used in Public Health Grant-funded substance misuse services. We continue to work with NHS England and local authority partners to consider opportunities to improve access to effective treatments and secure value for money.

The Department supports interventions to expand the provision of long-acting injectable buprenorphine. We are currently undertaking further analysis to understand cost-effectiveness, developing clinical guidance, and considering options to expand access further.

The Government is committed to ensuring that anyone with a drug or alcohol problem can access the help and support they need. Funding for drug and alcohol treatment can reduce societal inequalities and contribute to the Government’s mission to increase opportunity for all.

Local authorities are responsible for commissioning community alcohol and drug treatment and recovery services as part of their public health responsibilities. Over the next three years, through the Public Health Grant, we are providing local authorities with £3.4 billion of ringfenced funding for drug and alcohol prevention, treatment, and recovery. Conditions of the Public Health Grant include that local authorities use the funding solely for the purposes of commissioning and providing drug and alcohol services, and they have a comprehensive plan based on the assessment of local need and which has been developed with local health, housing, employment, children and families, and criminal justice partners.

The Department delivers a robust monitoring and assurance programme, and quality improvement interventions, for local authorities commissioning drug and alcohol treatment services. The number of adults in treatment is now the highest since reporting began, with latest annual statistics showing that between April 2024 and March 2025 there were 329,646 adults aged 18 years old and over in contact with community drug and alcohol treatment services.

The following table shows the available estimates of the cost to the National Health Service of treating conditions caused and exacerbated by tobacco and alcohol:

Comparisons of costs should not be made between estimates above because of the different methodologies used in their construction.

The Government is committed to ensuring that anyone with a drug or alcohol problem can access the help and support they need. Funding for drug and alcohol treatment can reduce societal inequalities and contribute to the Government’s mission to increase opportunity for all.

Local authorities are responsible for commissioning community alcohol and drug treatment and recovery services as part of their public health responsibilities. Over the next three years, through the Public Health Grant, we are providing local authorities with £3.4 billion of ringfenced funding for drug and alcohol prevention, treatment, and recovery. Conditions of the Public Health Grant include that local authorities use the funding solely for the purposes of commissioning and providing drug and alcohol services, and they have a comprehensive plan based on the assessment of local need and which has been developed with local health, housing, employment, children and families, and criminal justice partners.

The Department delivers a robust monitoring and assurance programme, and quality improvement interventions, for local authorities commissioning drug and alcohol treatment services. The number of adults in treatment is now the highest since reporting began, with latest annual statistics showing that between April 2024 and March 2025 there were 329,646 adults aged 18 years old and over in contact with community drug and alcohol treatment services.

The Independent Review into Mental Health Conditions, ADHD and Autism is examining changes in population prevalence, levels of psychological distress, recorded diagnosis and referral, and perceived need for support. A key aim of the review is to understand how these relate to one another. The review is also considering how current support systems work in practice. This includes whether diagnosis has too often become the only gateway to help, and how earlier intervention and preventative support are best offered within and beyond the National Health Service. The review is independent of the Government, and it is for the chair and vice chairs to determine the specific issues the review considers.

The review’s interim report, published at the end of March, sets out the evidence reviewed so far on prevalence, describes the impact of rising demand for diagnosis and support, identifies where the evidence is uncertain, and outlines the key questions for the next phase. It does not offer final conclusions or recommendations.

The final report, due in the summer, will make recommendations on how the Government, the health system, and wider public services can respond to increasing demand for support more fairly and effectively so that people receive the right support, at the right time, in the right place.

A central concern of the review is that access to recognition, diagnosis, and support is uneven. The next phase will examine inequalities in prevalence, diagnosis, support, and outcomes in more detail, including variation by ethnicity, age, sex, deprivation, and other characteristics.

The Government is committed to ensuring that anyone with a drug or alcohol problem can access the help and support they need.

Local authorities are responsible for commissioning alcohol and drug treatment and recovery services as part of their public health responsibilities. As a condition of the Public Health Grant, local authorities are responsible for improving the uptake of, and outcomes from, their drug and alcohol treatment services, based on an assessment of local need and a plan which has been developed with local health and criminal justice partners. Over the next three years, through the Public Health Grant, we are providing local authorities with £3.4 billion of ringfenced funding for drug and alcohol treatment and recovery.

The Department delivers a robust monitoring and assurance programme, and quality improvement interventions, for local authorities commissioning drug and alcohol treatment services. The number of adults in treatment is now the highest since reporting began, with the latest annual statistics showing that between April 2024 and March 2025 there were 329,646 adults aged 18 years old and over in contact with community drug and alcohol treatment services. Of this total, in London there were 45,873 adults in treatment, 9% higher than the previous year, and in Lewisham there were 1,910, 28% higher than the previous year.

The Department has worked with the Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) Association to develop lesson plans on drugs, alcohol, and tobacco, which include specific references to the dangers of nitrous oxide. The lesson plans target primary and secondary students, teaching them how to manage influences and pressure, and keep themselves healthy and safe. They are available at the following link:

https://pshe-association.org.uk/drugeducation

The Government also has a drug and information and advice service called Talk to FRANK, which aims to reduce drug and alcohol misuse and its harms by providing awareness to young people, parents, and concerned others. Information on nitrous oxide and the danger of its misuse is available at the following link:

https://www.talktofrank.com/drug/nitrous-oxide

The Government is continuing to invest in improvements to local alcohol and drug treatment services to ensure those in need can access high quality help and support. From 2026, all drug and alcohol treatment and recovery funding will be channelled through the Public Health Grant, with over £13.45 billion allocated across three years, including £3.4 billion ringfenced for drug and alcohol treatment and recovery.

Local authorities are responsible for assessing local needs for alcohol and drug prevention and treatment in their area, and commissioning services to meet these needs. The Government works with local treatment systems to provide a number of digital products including guidance, subject-matter expertise and data tools to help them deliver their service.

Digital products are derived from The National Drug Treatment Monitoring System and other related health datasets and made available via a dedicated website to enable local treatment systems to monitor treatment access and better manage outcomes.

The Government is committed to ensuring that anyone with a drug or alcohol problem can access the help and support they need, and we recognise the need for evidence-based, high-quality treatment.

Local authorities are responsible for assessing local need for alcohol and drug prevention and treatment in their area and for commissioning services to meet these needs. Through the Public Health Grant, we are providing local authorities with £3.4 billion in ringfenced funding over the next three years for drug and alcohol treatment and recovery. This first multi-year settlement in over a decade gives local authorities the certainty to plan and invest for the medium term.

Additionally, the Department provides guidance and support to improve outcomes, for example last year we launched a self-assessment toolkit to help local areas to improve residential drug and alcohol treatment, which is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/residential-drug-and-alcohol-treatment-self-assessment-toolkit

The Department also maintains regular engagement with commissioners and providers and works closely with other Government departments to improve pathways into treatment and foster recovery.

The Licensing Act 2003, which is overseen by the Home Office, requires licensing authorities to promote objectives relating to the prevention of crime and disorder, public safety, the protection of children from harm, and the prevention of public nuisance, which together provide important safeguards against alcohol‑related harms.

The Government is considering how best to take forward recommendations to develop a modern, proportionate, and enabling licensing system. This work is being led by the Department for Business and Trade and the Home Office with support from other departments, including the Department of Health and Social Care, to ensure public health is fully considered.

We will continue to work across Government to consider what other measures might be needed to reduce the negative impact excessive alcohol consumption is having on health, crime, and the economy.

The Government recognises that alcohol-related harm has wide ranging impacts across health, crime, productivity, and communities.

Commitments to addressing harms from alcohol feature in several of the Government's current strategies and plans. The National Health Service 10-Year Health Plan outlines crucial steps to help people make healthier choices about alcohol, including making it a legal requirement for alcohol labels to display health warnings and consistent nutritional information. This was reemphasised in the National Cancer Plan. The Men’s Health Strategy outlines the impact alcohol can have on men’s health, and announced the pilot of a new brief intervention to target the rise in cardiovascular disease deaths from combined alcohol and cocaine use among older men. To support better outcomes for people experiencing harmful drinking, the first ever United Kingdom clinical guidelines on alcohol treatment were published in November 2025.

The Government keeps the evidence on alcohol-related harm and the effectiveness of different policy approaches under review, and continues to consider how cross-Government action can best support improvements in population health and reduce health inequalities.

The Mental Health Act 1983, specifically Section 1, subsection 3, states that “Dependence on alcohol or drugs is not considered to be a disorder or disability of the mind” for the purposes of the act, and we did not amend this in the Mental Health Act 2025 that passed in December. We have no plans to change the definition of mental disorder.

We know that people with co-occurring substance use and mental health needs do not receive the integrated, person-centred care they require and deserve. The Department and NHS England have recently published Co-occurring mental health and substance use delivery framework, which is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/co-occurring-mental-health-and-substance-use-delivery-framework

This framework commits the Department and NHS England to delivering several national actions to improve delivery of integrated, person-centred care across drug and alcohol treatment and mental health services. The framework also includes recommended actions on how the health system can also work together to improve outcomes for those with co-occurring needs.

From this year, all drug and alcohol treatment and recovery funding will be channelled through the Public Health Grant, with over £13.45 billion allocated across three years, including £3.4 billion ringfenced for drug and alcohol treatment and recovery. Local authorities are responsible for commissioning drug and alcohol treatment and recovery services according to local need and can use this funding to support the families of individuals with a drug and/or alcohol treatment need.

The Department has published guidance specifically for adult treatment, and children and family services on how to effectively work together to support families affected by addiction. This is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/parents-with-alcohol-and-drug-problems-support-resources/parents-with-alcohol-and-drug-problems-guidance-for-adult-treatment-and-children-and-family-services

Local authorities are responsible for assessing local need for drug prevention, treatment, and recovery in their areas and for commissioning services to best meet local need. This includes work to reduce drug-related deaths.

The Department has recently launched the Drug and alcohol-related deaths dashboard, which provides information on the levels of drug and alcohol related mortality and harms, and the evidence-based interventions that local authorities and treatment providers can provide to have a positive impact on reducing deaths. Local authorities have access to this dashboard and can use it to assess need and plan interventions including in areas with higher rates of deaths. We are also improving surveillance of emerging harms and drug use patterns, with quarterly surveillance data now published to support local police and health responses to synthetic opioids.

In response to increasing drug related deaths, in 2024 the Department amended the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 to expand access to naloxone. The legislation enabled more services and professionals to supply this medication. The Department has recently launched a 10-week United Kingdom-wide public consultation on further legislative options to expand access to take-home and emergency use naloxone.

In response to the sharp rise in deaths involving cocaine, 800 deaths in 2022 to 1,195 deaths in 2024, the Department is investing an additional £200,000 in 2025/26 to develop and trial new brief interventions to target the rise in cocaine and alcohol-related cardiovascular deaths, particularly among men. The pilots will be run in acute hospital alcohol care teams with a view to making them available for use nationally across all healthcare settings in the next financial year.

Through the Government's Addiction Healthcare Goals Reducing Drug Deaths Innovation Challenge, twelve projects have received UK and Scottish government funding to develop and test innovative drug overdose detection, response, and rescue technologies and medicines with relevant populations. Future funding and support through the Addiction Healthcare Goals programme are being explored to further enable the advanced development and UK roll-out of novel drug and alcohol addiction technologies to improve healthcare and prevent harms and deaths.

Every drug-related death is a tragedy, and the Government is taking a public health approach to prevent these deaths and reduce harms from drugs.

Expanding access to naloxone, a life-saving overdose medication, has never been more important. In addition to the changes made in 2024 to expand access, we recently launched a ten-week United Kingdom-wide public consultation on further legislative options to expand access to take-home and emergency use naloxone.

The Government facilitates Drug Checking Facilities provided that the possession and supply of controlled drugs are licensed by the Home Office, or exceptionally, relevant exemptions under the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001 may apply.  Drug Checking Facilities must not condone drug use and should only be delivered where licensed and operated responsibly in line with Government policy to ensure that they discourage drug use and signpost potential users to treatment and support.