Applicable to: England and Wales

The British Crime Survey (BCS) questions respondents, aged 16 to 59, about a number of crime-related topics including their experience of illicit drugs . Since 2002 it has become a continuous survey reporting quarterly.

The British Crime Survey is used to monitor drug use among 16 to 59 year olds. This survey covers England and Wales. The drug component of this survey has been running since 1992 and a comparable set of data is available from 1996 onwards (Aust et al. 2002). The survey questions over 30,000 people and is now run on a continuous basis. This allows quarterly figures to be produced. The sample of young people that are asked drug questions has been expanded to 4,500 in order to aid precision in estimates of drug use. The year 1998 has been set as a baseline, against which decreases in drug use will be sought.

Questions on frequent use have recently been added to the British Crime Survey. 'Class A' drug use is based on whether a respondent has used one or more of seven drugs. These are heroin, cocaine, crack, methadone, ecstasy, LSD and magic mushrooms.