December 6, 2005: Cocaine Use Rising, LSD Use Declines

A new Home Office Statistical Bulletin with data on known drug offences and offenders in England and Wales in 2004 has just been published. The bulletin, entitled 'Drug Offenders in England and Wales 2004', Lungowe Mwenda, provides information on police cautions, court proceedings and HM Revenue and Customs compounding (where payment is made of a compound settlement in lieu of prosecution for minor cannabis possession offences) for drug offences.

There were 105,570 drug offences recorded in England and Wales in 2004. This represents a 21% fall from the 133,970 offences recorded in 2003. Drugs are divided into three classes (A, B and C) according to their harmfulness. Class A offences rose by 2% to 36,350. There were 7,260 class B offences and 59,050 class C offences in 2004. Cannabis was re-classified from being a class B to a class C drug. in January 2004, rendering most cannabis possession non-arrestable.

Most drug offenders are male; in 2004, only12% of drug offenders were female.

The number of drug offenders sentenced at court during 2003 and 2004 was 73,180 and 55,880 respectively, a fall of 24%. This is due to a general decrease across most drug types, including: heroin (-5%); LSD (-12%); methadone (-7%); and cannabis (-39%).

There were 33,470 cautions given for drug offences in 2004, a 28% fall from 2003.

Cocaine use is growing quickly, while LSD use is declining. Cocaine possession offenders made up 8% of all drug offenders in 2004, with cocaine dealers making up an additional 2%. 2% of known drugs offenders were dealt with for cocaine offences in 1994 years ago, rising to 10% in 2004 (8,070). Crack offenders have been reported separately from cocaine since 1994 when there were 370 crack offenders. There are now 2,440 crack offenders in 2004 (3% of all drugs offenders). In 1994, LSD accounted for 2% of all drug offenders (1,660 offenders) but the number has shrunk under 1% in 2004 (130 offenders).

Most of those (almost 85%) dealt with for drug offences in 2004 related to drug possession; 56% related specifically to cannabis. 13% of all drug offenders (10,040 offenders) were dealt with for heroin drug offences in 2004.

Cautions (44%) were the most common disposal used for possession offences in 2004. Dealing offences accounted for 14% of all drug offenders in 2004. The number of dealing offenders rose 2% in 2004 to 10,800 from 10,630 in 2003.

While offences involving possession tend to be committed by those under the age of 25 (53%), offences involving tend to be committed by people aged over 25 (60%). Unlawful production/import/export offences committed by people aged 30 or over (61%).

The most commonly used disposal for convicted dealing offenders in 2004 was immediate custody (61%). Community sentences were used in 17% of cases.