Cocaine, heroin and benzodiazepines are the most widely used drugs across Northern Ireland after cannabis.
It comes as the Department of Health released new figures to their Substance Misuse Database.
The DoH published statistics were recorded between April 1, 2019 until March 31, 2020.
Cannabis was the most popular after cocaine in five main Health and Social Care areas - Northern Trust, Southern Trust, South Eastern Trust, Western Trust and Belfast Trust.
In total, 4,264 clients were recorded on the database as having presented to services for problem substance misuse.
The latest figures show that the majority of clients were also male.
Meanwhile, 1,525 were treated for using drugs only, 1,397 for alcohol only and 1,342 for drugs and alcohol.
The most common age group for clients presenting to treatment was 26-39 years, according to the report.
Drug Misuse
The drugs most commonly reported by those presenting to treatment for drug misuse were:
- Cannabis (65.2% of clients)
- Cocaine (45.8% of clients)
- Benzodiazepines (31.4% of clients)
- Pregabalin/Lyrica (21.8% of clients)
- Ecstasy(16.2% of clients)
- Heroin (13.0% of clients)
Prescribed Drug use
The study found that more than one-in-ten clients (14.6%) presenting to treatment for drug misuse indicated they took at least one prescription drug.
Drug Statistics by HSC Trust
When it came to drugs by HSC Turst, Cannabis proved the most popular drug, while Cocaine and benzodiazepines were the second and third across the board.
The Western Trust had the highest amount of clients (671) which amounted to 23.4% of the entire of the population that used services for substance misuse.
Cannabis was by far the most commonly used drug in the region on 72.6%.
Meanwhile, Belfast Trust had the second highest with 635 (22.1%), HM Prisons was third (17.9%).
Frequency of use
Meanwhile, two-thirds of clients presenting to treatment for drug misuse (67.9%) reported daily use of drugs.
Injecting Drug Behaviour
Over one in ten drug use clients reported ever having injected (13.9%).
Similar proportions were seen in both females (14.9%) and males (13.6%).
More than a quarter of those who had injected (26.9%) reported having shared injecting equipment at some time.
Problem Alcohol use
According to the study, During 2019/20 more than two thirds of clients (70.0%) presenting to services indicating problem alcohol use were male.
Problem alcohol use also increased with age with almost half of clients reporting problem alcohol use being aged 40 years and over (48.1%).
For more than three-quarters of clients (77.1%) reporting problem alcohol use, alcohol was their primary problem substance.
When it came to females (89.1%) were more likely than males (71.9%) to report problem alcohol use as their primary substance.
The majority of those aged 40 years and over (94.2%) that presented to services with problem alcohol use, indicated that it was their primary problem.
