STAGE 1. Assessing needs
What steps should be completed?
Step 1: Explore the magnitude, characteristics and consequences of drug use
Data on healthcare demand is very valuable information. When the number of people seen by the centres that report information represents a very small proportion of the population with problematic drug use, the treatment data obtained will mainly reflect individual patterns of drug use. This is the case, for example, of data on people who are being treated for tobacco or alcohol dependence in specialised centres, which normally represent only a very small proportion of the people with problematic use of these substances in the general population.
Conversely, when there is reason to believe that a significant number of the people with problematic use of certain drugs seek treatment in the centres that provide data for the indicator, then it can be assumed that the data can help improve our understanding of the characteristics of the whole population with problematic use, trends in usage patterns, and many other important details.
Analysis of the data on treatment demand, and especially how it changes with time, can serve as a basis to propose hypotheses in relation to people with problematic drug use. Collecting data on treatment for drug abuse and dependence is not usually very difficult.
It may be helpful to take into account the following guidelines when collecting information on treatment for drug abuse or dependence:
© COPOLAD. Cooperation Programme between Latin America, the Caribbean and the European Union on Drugs Policies.
