Online report 22/07 Measuring the harm from illegal drugs: the Drug Harm Index 2005

The Drug Harm Index (DHI) was developed as the overarching measure for the PSA target to reduce the harm caused by illegal drugs. It combines robust national indicators of the harms generated by illegal drugs into a single-figure time-series index. The harms include drug-related crime, community perceptions of drug problems, drug nuisance, and the various health consequences that arise from drug abuse.

This latest update adds data for 2005 and incorporates revised figures for earlier years. It shows that the DHI has fallen from 89.1 in 2004 to 83.8 in 2005. This is a drop of 5.3 points or 5.9 per cent. This compares to a decrease of 18.2 per cent between 2003 and 2004. The index has now fallen year-on-year since 2001.

The fall in the DHI between 2004 and 2005 is largely due to further reductions in drug-related crime. In terms of the health-related indicators, drug-related hepatitis C cases had a noticeable downward impact on the DHI, but this was more than offset by an increase in drug-related deaths. The only other variable with a large upward impact on the DHI was robbery.