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The British Journal of Psychiatry (2000) 176: 166-172
© 2000 The Royal College of Psychiatrists

Extent and contributing factors of drug expenditure of injectors in Glasgow

Multi-site city-wide cross-sectional study

SHARON J. HUTCHINSON, MSc

Scottish Centre for Infection and Environmental Health, Glasgow

SHEILA M. GORE, PhD

Medical Research Council Biostatistics Unit, Cambridge

AVRIL TAYLOR, PhD

Scottish Centre for Infection and Environmental Health, Glasgow

DAVID J. GOLDBERG, FRCP

Scottish Centre for Infection and Environmental Health, Glasgow

MARTIN FRISCHER, PhD

Department of Medicines Management, Keele University, Staffordshire

Declaration of interest Funding was provided by the Medical Research Council and the Scottish Office.

1 The 1994 interview asked "how much money do you spend on drugs in an average day?"; the response was scaled up to weekly drug expenditure for comparison with 1993 data. The change in recording of drug expenditure was introduced for the 1994 survey because of the difficulty found by respondents in calculating expenditures on a weekly basis.

Correspondence: S. J. Hutchinson, Scottish Centre for Infection and Environmental Health, Clifton House, Clifton Place, Glasgow G3 7LN

Background Recent concern about drug use has focused attention on the illegal income generated by users.

Aims To investigate factors associated with drugs expenditure and to estimate the cost of illegal acquisitions used to pay for drugs.

Method We collected self-report data from 954 current injectors, interviewed at multiple street, needle/syringe exchange and drug treatment sites throughout Glasgow.

Results Injectors' mean weekly drug spending was £324. The mean annual illegal drugs spend was estimated to be £11 000 per injector. We provide a central estimate - £194 million per annum - of the retail value of goods acquired illegally by injectors in Glasgow in order to pay for drugs. Higher drug spends were associated with having been imprisoned more often and with those reporting acquisitive crime, drug dealing and prostitution. Treatment with methadone, among individuals who injected in the previous two months, was associated with a 20% reduction in a typical spend on drugs.

Conclusions Treatment effectiveness needs to be measured both in terms of health benefit and in terms of reduction in drugs expenditure and recidivism.




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