Problem drug use indicator (poster)
Introduction
Some drug users go on to develop more severe forms of use, defined by the EMCDDA as ‘high-risk drug use’: ‘recurrent drug use that is causing actual harms (negative consequences) to the person (including dependence, but also other health, psychological or social problems) or is placing the person at a high probability/risk of suffering such harms’. In practice, data are collected through the Problem drug use (PDU) indicator on those whose consumption of drugs in the last 12 months is characterised by high-risk patterns of use or routes of administration.
The PDU indicator is one of a set of five key epidemiological indicators that are used by the EMCDDA to facilitate data collection, analysis and reporting on key aspects of the prevalence and consequences of drug use.
