The Drugs Team at Public Health Scotland (PHS) has compiled this report of drug-related indicators in order to inform action to prevent drug harms and deaths.

The objectives of this report are to:

• monitor changes in drug trends, harms and use of services to inform immediate and short-term actions that reduce drug harms
• detect potential clusters of harms and recommend appropriate responses
• Data and reporting period
  Observed changes in indicators may reflect genuine trends in behaviours but may also be influenced by factors such as the configuration of services, or data quality and completeness issues.
• This release reports on Scotland-level data. Analysis for some indicators is available by NHS Board in the substance use section of the COVID-19 wider impacts dashboard.
• These data may be subject to change. Further analysis of these data will be made available in our Official and National Statistics publications on substance use.
• Different time periods may be reported across the different indicators. In all cases, the most recently available data are used. Most charts are based upon a 2-year time series.
• Key time periods, during which notable pandemic restrictions were in place, are indicated by reference lines and shaded areas on the charts.