The report found that under 18s accessing specialist services for substance misuse in England fell to 21,955 this year, down from 24,053 in 2008/09, suggesting that this was likely to be a reflection of falling drug use among young people.
The majority of those receiving treatment (78 per cent) were aged 15 to18 and 64 per cent were male.
More young people are also completing their therapy successfully - 10,507 compared with 4,105 five years ago - while dropping out rates fell from 29 per cent in 2005/06 to 13 per cent this year.
Children’s minister Sarah Teather said: "It's encouraging to see the number of young people needing help for drug and alcohol problems is continuing to fall. More young people are successfully completing treatment programmes to help get their lives back on track. It is important the progress we have seen is maintained.
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