This occasional paper contains information gathered by the National Drug Treatment Reporting System (NDTRS), an epidemiological database on treaded drug misuse complied by the Drug Misuse Research Division (DMRD) of the Health Research Board (HRB).

The total numbers include 7,545 cases who lived and were treated in the seven health board areas outside the Eastern Regional Health Authority between 1998 and 2002. Both the incidence and prevalence of treated problem drug use almost trebled between 1998 and 2002.

The incidence of treated problem drug use for the reporting period was highest in the Southern Health Board area, followed closely by the South Eastern Health Board area. The total number of cases reporting cannabis as their main problem drug trebled, increasing from 392 in 1998 to 1,328 in 2002. The numbers reporting problem opiate use also increased steadily, from 116 in 1998 to 439 in 2002.