Research

Q

I am presently doing reseach on drug use in students. I would firsly like to know what IDMU stands for and a little history of it. I would like to know what kind of organisation it is and if it is recognised as a reputable and trusted source of information.

A.

IDMU stands for Independent Drug Monitoring Unit (IDMU Ltd), we are an independent research consultancy specialising in the study of drug consumption patterns and the drugs market in the UK, as well as many other aspects of drug use and abuse.

We conduct annual surveys each involving over 1000 users, via anonymous questionnaires distributed at pop festivals, other events, and via snowballing.

We have no political axe to grind, nor are we responsible to funding bodies, and are therefore free to 'tell it like it is'. The bulk of our funding arises from Legal Aid fees for expert evidence in the criminal courts, a large proportion of which is ploughed back into research projects.

We would particularly welcome the opportunity to distribute surveys via drugs advice agencies and clinics, as the data on regular heroin/cocaine/amphetamine users is limited by the low numbers who attend events where we distribute. Our data on cannabis consumption and the cannabis market is internally consistent, and I am confident in its validity, given the very large samples we are working with.

We welcome approaches from students and academic researchers in the drugs field for collaborative projects, as we have far more data than we have the time or resources to write up and publish. We can also allow new questions to be added to the survey in any particular year, retaining a number of core questions which appear every year.

Many of our research findings were published in the companion volume of evidence submitted to the House of Lords Cannabis enquiry. We have a good informal relationship with the Home Office Research & Statistics Directorate, and were consultants to the UK Medicinal Cannabis Project/GW Pharmaceuticals.