JSNA – People – Substance Misuse

Last Updated: September 2025

Substance misuse is the use of alcohol, illegal drugs, or over-the-counter or prescription medications in a way that they are not meant to be used and could be harmful to you or others around you. People can misuse substances one time, occasionally, or regularly, and they can go on to develop substance use disorder.

This dashboard summarises data on substance misuse prevalence, impacts, hospital admissions, and treatment for the Barnet population.

To access the Substance Misuse Needs Assessment, please click here.

What’s new?

• Smoking prevalence data for 2023
• Rates of adults in and completing specialist alcohol/drug treatment for 2023/24
• Alcohol and substance misuse admissions data for 2024
• Rate of deaths related to drug-poisoning for 2022-24

Headline Figures

• 9.6% of men and 8.2% of women in Barnet are current smokers (2023).
• The rate of alcohol-specific hospital admissions was 191 per 100,000 in women and 682 per 100,000 in men in 2023/24. Both of these rates are below the London and England averages. The majority of admissions are due to alcohol-related cardiovascular disease.
• The rate of alcohol-related mortality in 2023 was 24.6 per 100,000 – this is significantly higher in men than in women.
• The rate of admissions due to substance misuse has significantly declined since 2015, and most recently was 13.4 per 100,000 in 2024.
• The rate of deaths by drug poisoning in Barnet is 4.4 per 100,000 (2022-24) – this is the second-lowest rate of all London boroughs and is significantly lower than the England average (8.8 per 100,000).
• The rate of adults in specialist alcohol treatment in 2023/24 was 1.3 per 1,000 (below the England average) with a successful completion rate of 32%. 3.2 per 1,000 adults are in specialist drug treatment services (also below the England average), with a successful completion rate of 20% for non-opiate drugs and 2% for opiate drugs. In 2023/24, no adults had to wait more than 3 weeks to access alcohol treatment

Narrative

Alcohol:

• There are 9.9 premises licences to sell alcohol per km² in Barnet – this is higher than the England average but lower than the London average.
• In 2023, there were 502 potential life years lost due to alcohol-related conditions in Barnet. Alcohol-related mortality in Barnet was significantly higher in men (39.1 per 100,000) than in women (12.7 per 100,000). Overall, the mortality rate in Barnet is lower than both the London and England averages.
• Under 75 alcoholic liver disease mortality as of 2021-23 was 5.1 per 100,000; this is lower than both the London (8.7 per 100,000) and England (11.7 per 100,000) average. Alcoholic liver disease mortality is higher in men and than in women.
• In 2023/24, the rate of alcohol-specific admissions was 423 per 100,000 Barnet residents. This is significantly higher than the rate observed in 2022/23 but is still below the London (564 per 100,000) and England (612 per 100,000) averages.
  • Admissions are higher in men, at 701 per 100,000 compared to a rate of 214 per 100,000 in women in 2024.
  • The rate of admissions is highest in those aged 50+ at 874 per 100,000 in 2024.
  • People of White ethnicity are overrepresented in alcohol admissions, making up 66% of admissions compared to just 58% of the general population in Barnet.
  • As of 2020/21, the estimated cost per captia of alcohol-related hospital admissions was £38 in Barnet (compared to £41 in London and £49 in England).
• In 2023/24, the rate of adults in specialist alcohol treatment was 1.3 per 1,000 – this is significantly lower than the England average. The successful completion rate stands at approximately 32%, which is similar to both the London and England average.
  • In Barnet, no users has to wait more than 3 weeks to access treatment (2023/24) and the mortality rate of those in treatment stands at 1.1 per 1,000 (2019/20 – 2021/22).
  • In 2022/23, almost half of those in treatment were aged 30-49 years and almost 60% were male.

Drugs:

• Incidents of drug crime vary across the borough. From December 2022 – May 2025, LSOA 017B located in Totteridge & Woodside ward had the highest number of incidents of drug crime. Other LSOAs in the ward had no incidents of drug crime. In terms of drug-related stop and searches, 36% of those searched were aged 18 to 24.
• In 2022-24, the rate of deaths related to drug poisoning in Barnet was 4.4 per 100,000 – this is significantly lower than both London (6.4 per 100,000) and England (8.8 per 100,000) averages. Barnet has the second-lowest rate of drug poisoning deaths of all London boroughs, with only Redbridge being lower in 2022-24. Rates are higher in men than women.
• In 2024, the rate of hospital admissions for substance misuse for Barnet residents was 13.4 per 100,000, representing a significant decline compared to 2015. 36% of those admitted were aged 30-49 years. Rates are similar in males and females.
• The rate of adults in specialist drug treatment services in Barnet in 2023/24 was 3.2 per 1,000.
  • Almost all users wait less than 3 weeks for treatment in Barnet and the majority of treatments have a length of under 1 year.
  • In 2022/23, 55.4% of those in specialist drug treatment in Barnet were aged 30-49, 75.1% were of White ethnicity, and 69% are male.
  • The most common reason for exit of treatment is unfortunately users dropping out (47%), though the second most common is successful completion.
  • For opiate users, the successful completion rate stands at 2.2% whilst for non-opiate users it is 20% – both of these rates are lower than the London and England averages.

Smoking:

• In 2023, 8.9% of Barnet’s population are current smokers, which is similar to both the London and England average.
• The prevalence of smoking is higher in men (9.6%) than in women (8.2%).

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