A survey on drug use to “monitor the nature and magnitude of the use and abuse of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs” is to be carried out.

The Department for National Drug Control will run the telephone survey of 1,200 homes from next Monday.

Questions will cover topics such as demographics, the prevalence of drug experiences, access to drugs, risk of harm, and health implications from substance use.

The survey will also question people on the use of tranquillisers and stimulants, and illegal drugs such as heroin, ecstasy and crack cocaine.

A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Legal Affairs and Constitutional Reform insisted that all information will be confidential.

The spokeswoman said: “At this time, only one household member who is 16 years or older, will be interviewed.

“All participant responses will remain confidential and will be reported only as aggregated data, therefore no person, or his or her information, can be recognised.”

The spokeswoman said that the information would “help to inform and strengthen policy and decision-making, as well as assist in directing resources to the relevant programmes needed”.

She added: “The survey data will be used to monitor the nature and magnitude of the use and abuse of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs in our community and will assess public opinion on an array of drug-related issues.

“Additionally, this data will provide insight into the circumstances and perceived harms of using alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs.“

Members of the public should contact the Department for National Drug Control at 294-9702 or by e-mail to dndc@gov.bm if they have questions on the survey.