Summary: Drug Testing on Arrest (DToA) programme
Updated 12 February 2025
© Crown copyright 2025
This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk.
Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.
This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/drug-testing-on-arrest-dtoa-programme-data/drug-testing-on-arrest-dtoa-programme-data
This page provides a summary of the data returns from the Drug Testing on Arrest (DToA) expansion programme since its launch in March 2022, with supplementary data tables to support the interpretation of the headline figures.
See the data in ODS or accessible HTML format.
This data collection is still in development and the current returns do not present a complete picture of the national DToA activity, however the Home Office continues to work with police forces to expand the data collected and will report results on a quarterly basis.
Drug Testing on Arrest (DToA)
The aim of Drug Testing on Arrest (DToA) is to identify individuals whose criminal activity is believed to be caused, at least in part, by the use of certain Class A drugs and who would benefit from treatment or support, and divert them to such service. There is evidence that treatment works to reduce drug use and drug-related offending [footnote 1].
DToA is a police power that can test for the presence of certain Class A drugs (cocaine and certain opiates) on arrest, for individuals aged 18 and over; and after charge, for individuals aged 14 and over. Tests are conducted either following the committal of a trigger offence, or with Inspector or above authority following the committal of any offence. The test is based on a saliva swab which seeks the presence of cocaine and certain opiates. ‘Trigger’ offences are defined in law[footnote 2] (typically acquisitive crimes), ‘non-trigger’ offences cover all other offences. Non-trigger offences can be tested for where there are reasonable grounds to suspect that specified Class A drug use has contributed to or caused the offence and an Inspector or higher has granted approval. Following a positive test, police can refer individuals to an assessment to identify any need for treatment or support such as counselling. During this assessment the decision to refer to treatment is undertaken by a qualified drug support worker to ensure those for whom treatment or other support would be beneficial are referred to the appropriate services.
DToA has been available as a tool of the Drug Intervention Programme for police forces since 2003. Prior to Home Office funding being made available in financial year 2021/22, DToA was not being used consistently across police forces, with less than half of forces across England and Wales reporting DToA data to the Home Office and the use of tests within these forces varying significantly. The expansion of DToA focuses on increasing the resources available to police forces so that they can either expand their current provision or start drug testing.
DToA programme monitoring data
Forces returning data
In total, 36 police forces accepted the funding offer for DToA for the financial year 2022/23, 37 forces accepted funding for the financial year 2023/24 and 41 forces have accepted funding for the financial year 2024/25. Not all forces who accepted the offer have claimed the funding.
A total of 36 forces returned data (including nil returns) at some point to the Home Office during the period March 2022 to September 2024.
Reported tests
In the period March 2022 to September 2024, a total of 154,295 tests were reported to the Home Office by police forces.
Of the 154,295 tests reported, 86,207 tests were positive for cocaine, opiates, or both. This is a positive test rate of 56%.
Referral to assessment data is available for nearly 60% (36,135) of positive tests. Of these, over 90% (33,113) resulted in a referral to assessment for treatment. Where data is available for referrals to treatment, over 50% (3,486) of referrals to assessment led to referral to treatment. Due to being based on a limited sample, this may not reflect the proportions of all tests which result in a referral to assessment or treatment.
Trends
The total number of tests reported to the Home Office increased each quarter compared to the previous quarter between March 2022 and March 2024, in part due to more police forces providing data on their use of DToA.
Since then, the numbers of tests per quarter have dropped slightly. In April to June 2024, there were 2% fewer tests compared to the previous quarter, and in July to September 2024, tests were down 7% on the previous quarter.
Further details of the test data reported can be found in the supplementary tables on this page.