Reviewing the situation: pharmacists and drug misuse services in England and Wales

In the six month period up to March 31st 2000 there were 31,800 contacts made with treatment services in England, an increase of 8% on the previous six months. The majority of these individuals reported opiates as their main drug of misuse (74%) (Department of Health, 2000), followed by stimulants and cannabis. Many of the individuals would be using community pharmacies as a source of clean injecting equipment or for collection of their prescribed treatments for substance misuse, e.g. methadone.