This occasional paper contains information gathered by the National Drug Treatment Reporting System (NDTRS), an epidemiological database on treated drug misuse complied by the Drug Misuse Research Division (DMRD) of the Health Research Board (HRB). The data presented provide a description of demand for drug treatment services in the seven health board areas outside the Eastern Regional Health Authority between 1998 to 2002. The total number of cases reporting cannabis as their main problem drug increasing from 409 in 1998 to 1,359 in 2002.

The numbers reporting problem opiate use almost trebled, from 184 in 1998 to 532 in 2002. Injectors have more than doubled, from 148 in 1998 to 342 in 2002. Half of them had started injecting before they were 20 years old. The proportion of cases under 18 years old increased by 4% over the reporting period and, as expected, was much higher for new cases than for those previously treated.