Heroin is strongly associated with both health and social harms. Around half of clients in contact with treatment in 2014/15 were using opiates (52%) and 952 deaths were related to heroin and morphine use in 2014, out of a total 3,346 drug poisoning deaths. Regular opiate and crack cocaine users are estimated to commit up to 45 per cent of acquisitive crime, costing almost £6bn per year.

The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) reported that a small group of European countries, including the UK, appeared to have experienced a reduced supply of heroin to varying degrees4 in 2010/11.

This change in the availability of heroin provides a unique opportunity to expand the currently limited evidence base on the impacts of reduced supply. This report makes best use of available secondary data to examine how the reduction in heroin supply in England and Wales manifested itself at street level and to attempt to quantify any impact on drug use and associated harms. Feedback from Drug and Alcohol Action Teams (DAATs) and service providers is also presented to provide additional context to the analysis.