The Substance Misuse Programme works to address both the current and emerging public health threats in Wales and in line with the overarching strategic objective to ‘reduce health inequalities and inequities, and prevent or reduce communicable and non-communicable disease, wider harms and premature death related to drugs and alcohol use and related risk behaviours.

This statistical report provides a summary of routinely reported substance misuse related data currently available for Wales. Evidence is drawn from a number of data sources including Digital Health and Care Wales, Harm Reduction Database (HRD) Wales, Welsh National Database for Substance Misuse (WNDSM), Office for National Statistics (ONS), Local Authority Education services and Home Office data. This report is intended for use alongside the Welsh Government Substance Misuse report on treatment data for the same period to provide a complete profile on the scale and nature of substance misuse, both drugs and alcohol, in Wales.

As in previous years, the report is structured to better explore the evidence relating to substance misuse over the life course, from prenatal and maternal use of drugs and alcohol, through to substance misuse in older adults. The profile will also evidence geographic variations in the health harms related to both drugs and alcohol in terms of hospital admissions, disease rates and deaths, as well as trends over time.