Accurate information on illicit drug taking is notoriously difficult to obtain: drug users are not always keen to discuss their drug use unless rapport and trust have been established. Household surveys, able to identify behaviours such as drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes that are common in the majority or a significant minority of the population, are less well able to pick up the illicit behaviour of what remains, in spite of considerable growth, a small minority of the general population. Official figures that exist offer a partial view. Thus to obtain an overall picture of drug taking it is necessary to examine several sources: direct indicators of drug use such as arrests for possession and supply and drug seizures; user reports; indirect measures such as the supply of needles and syringes by pharmacists and other outlets and an analysis of cultural and economic factors which may co-vary with drug taking trends. These sources and others will be examined in an attempt to construct an overview of patterns of drug use in a northern UK city, to discuss some problems arising from it and the response of the community to these problems.