Professor Alex Stevens:

There is good evidence from longitudinal studies that drug use in general is much higher among young people, especially in their late teens and early 20s. Drug use tends to start earlier among more deprived communities but by the time people get to 16 to 18, more affluent young people use more drugs, presumably because they can afford to. If you look at the entire population, you see that drug use tends to be slightly higher among people who are in the more affluent groups, probably because they can afford to do it. Problematic drug use is more prevalent among more deprived communities because people might be using drugs in different ways for different reasons. They are more likely to be exposed to trauma, the harms of poverty and early bereavement. They are more likely to be using drugs in ways that are self-medicating and that lead to problematic patterns. It is not the case that drug use is more common among deprived communities but it is the case that problematic drug use and death are highly concentrated among deprived communities.