National statistics

Seizures of drugs in England and Wales, financial year ending 2022

Updated 5 July 2023

Applies to England and Wales

This publication provides an overview of drug seizures made by the police (including the British Transport Police) and Border Force in the year ending 31 March 2022 in England and Wales. The data relate to all drugs controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (MDA) and the Psychoactive Substance Act 2016 (PSA). Statistics on historical seizures of drugs prior to and including the year ending March 2010 can be found in the web archive.

Please see the user guide for further information on this release, including the imputation methods used for missing data. For the year ending March 2022, imputation methods were used for approximately 7% of the total number of drug seizures.

1. Main points

• police forces and Border Force made a total of 188,927 drug seizures in England and Wales in year ending March 2022, a 14% decrease compared with the previous year (219,578) but the second-highest number since the year ending March 2014
• the number of seizures declined for most individual drug types compared with the previous year, with the notable exception of cocaine which increased by 5%
• the quantity of cocaine seizures by police forces and Border Force increased by 68%, from 11,141kg in the year ending March 2021 to 18,767kg in the latest year, making it the highest recorded quantity of cocaine seized on record. This was driven by an increase in the number of seizures weighing 100kg or more by Border Force
• the quantity of heroin decreased by 28% from 1,972kg seized in the previous year to 1,412kg, driven by a 38% reduction in the quantity seized by Border Force despite police forces seeing an 84% increase. However, this is the third-highest quantity of heroin seized since the year ending March 2012
• the quantity of herbal cannabis seized in the year ending March 2022 increased by 107% from the previous year to 35,436kg, the highest recorded quantity since 1994, when it was 56,440kg
• the quantity of ketamine seized by police forces and Border Force increased by 884%, from 187kg in year ending March 2021 to 1,837kg in the latest year. This was driven by an increase in the number of seizures over 10kg by Border Force
• similar to previous years, police forces accounted for the majority (89%) of the number of seizures compared to Border Force (11%)
• while Border Force seizures made up a small proportion of the total number of individual seizures, they generally comprised of much larger quantities, for example accounting for 97% of anabolic steroids, 91% of cocaine, 91% of ketamine and 79% of heroin seized

The number of seizures can be heavily affected by enforcement activity as well as changes in recording practices. For the latest estimates of drug use see the Crime Survey for England and Wales.

2. Number of seizures

In the year ending March 2022, 188,927 drug seizures were made in England and Wales. This is a 14% decrease on the previous year, but the second-highest number of seizures since the year ending March 2014. Other key findings were:

• the vast majority of seizures for individual drug types declined, with the notable exception of cocaine which increased by 5% from the prior year
• as in previous years, cannabis (herbal, plant and resin) was the most commonly seized drug, despite a 16% fall
• similar to previous years, police forces accounted for the majority (89%) of the number of seizures compared to Border Force (11%)

Figure 1: Number of seizures of Class A, Class B and Class C drugs, police forces and Border Force, years ending March 2007 to 2022

Source: Home Office, Summary Table 1.

The MDA divides drugs into three categories: Class A, B and C. These are classed according to the harm caused to the user or to society when they are misused. Class A drugs are considered the most harmful. For more information on drug classifications, please see the user guide.

The total number of drug seizures per year follows a similar trend to the number of police recorded drug offences (Figure 2). Statistics on the number of police recorded drug offences are published on a quarterly basis by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) - see Crime in England and Wales, year ending March 2022. This includes offences for possession of controlled drugs, trafficking in controlled drugs, and other drug offences. These statistics show that during the year ending March 2022, the police recorded 178,646 drug offences, a 15% decrease from the previous year (210,901) which saw the highest number of drug offences recorded since the year ending March 2012. This trend is likely due to increased drug enforcement activity during coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdowns that has since declined back to similar pre-COVID-19 levels.

There was also a decrease in stop and searches in the year ending March 2022, compared to the previous year which had seen increased capacity for proactive policing during COVID-19 lockdowns, as noted in Police powers and procedures statistics. Since the peak in the year ending March 2009, the number of drug offences recorded by the police has decreased by 27% from 243,536 to 178,646, and the number of drug seizures by police forces has also decreased by 28% from 233,793 to 168,050.

Figure 2: Index of police recorded drug offences and the total number of drug seizures by police forces, years ending March 2007 to 2022

Source: Home Office, Summary Table 1. Office for National Statistics (ONS), Crime in England and Wales, year ending March 2022, Appendix Table A4.

Notes:

1. Based on an index created by dividing figures for each year by the figure for 2006/07, and multiplying by 100.

2.1 Class A drugs

In the year ending March 2022, there were 37,113 seizures of Class A drugs, a 14% decrease on the previous year (43,150 seizures). One-fifth of all drug seizures involved at least one Class A drug. Since the year ending March 2007, cocaine has been the most frequently seized Class A drug, followed by heroin.

Cocaine: around half (49%) of all seizures of Class A drugs involved cocaine, with 18,228 seizures in the year ending March 2022, a 5% increase on the previous year’s figure (17,432).

Heroin: around one fifth of all Class A seizures involved heroin, the second most commonly seized Class A drug, with 6,814 seizures in the year ending March 2022. This was a 25% decrease on the previous year’s total of 9,038 seizures.

Crack: seizures of crack decreased by 16% from 7,095 in the year ending March 2021, to 5,949 in the latest year, as shown in Figure 3.

Ecstasy: the number of ecstasy seizures decreased by 25% compared to the previous year from 3,305 to 2,474, as shown in Figure 3.

Methadone: seizures of methadone decreased by 32% from 847 to 573 in the year ending March 2022.

Morphine: the number of morphine seizures decreased by 21% from 252 to 199 when compared with the previous year.

LSD: seizures of LSD decreased by 52%, from 2,147 in the year ending March 2021 to 1,038 in the year ending March 2022.

Fentanyl: there were 18 seizures of fentanyl and 4 seizures of analogues in the year ending March 2022, as shown in Figure 4.

Figure 3: Number of seizures of the main Class A drug types, police forces and Border Force, years ending March 2007 to 2022

Source: Home Office, Summary Table 1.

Figure 4: Number of seizures of fentanyl and fentanyl analogues, by police forces and Border Force, years ending March 2012 to 2022

Source: Home Office, Appendix Table 3.

2.2 Class B drugs

In the year ending March 2022, there were 138,555 seizures of Class B drugs, a 17% decrease compared with the previous year (166,627 seizures). As in previous years, the majority of Class B seizures were for cannabis, with 95% (131,668) of all Class B seizures involving at least one form of cannabis.

2.2.1 Cannabis

There were 131,668 seizures of cannabis in the year ending March 2022, a 16% decrease from the previous year (157,574). Cannabis has consistently accounted for the majority of overall seizures, so its numbers will strongly influence overall trends.

Herbal cannabis: most (89%) total cannabis seizures involved herbal cannabis. The number of herbal cannabis seizures decreased by 16% from 139,984 to 117,546 between the years ending March 2021 and 2022.

Cannabis resin: seizures of cannabis resin decreased by 26% from 8,768 to 6,513 in the year ending March 2022.

Cannabis plants: the number of seizures of cannabis plants decreased by 13% from 11,668 to 10,139 in the year ending March 2022.

Figure 5: Number of cannabis seizures, police forces and Border Force, years ending March 2007 to 2022

Source: Home Office, Summary Table 1.

2.2.2 Other Class B drugs

‘Other Class B drugs’: the number of ‘Other Class B’ drugs were the second most commonly seized Class B drug (behind cannabis), with 3,682 seizures in the year ending March 2022, a decrease of 27% from the previous year (5,063). Examples of ‘Other Class B’ drugs include THC cannabis oil and synthetic cannabinoids.

Amphetamines: in the year ending March 2022, there were 3,243 seizures of amphetamines, a 24% decrease on the previous year when there were 4,260 seizures.

Ketamine: in the year ending March 2022, there were 1,336 seizures of ketamine, an 11% decrease on the previous year when there were 1,509 seizures. This decrease includes a 37% decrease in seizures by Border Force to 341, down from 538 in the previous year.

Mephedrone (non-injection): seizures of mephedrone (non-injection) seizures decreased by 72%, from 71 in the year ending March 2021 to 20 in the latest year.

2.3 Class C drugs

Overall, seizures of Class C drugs decreased by 11% between the years ending March 2021 and 2022, from 8,959 to 7,941 seizures.

‘Other Class C’: the most commonly seized in the Class C category were ‘Other Class C’ drugs in the year ending March 2022, with 4,777 seizures; this was a 5% increase on the previous year’s figure (4,549). Examples of ‘Other Class C’ drugs include Tramadol, Zopiclone and Khat; Border Force also include Benzodiazepines, GHB (gamma-hydroxybutyric acid) and Temazepam in the ‘Other Class C’ category.

Benzodiazepines: 31% of all seizures of Class C drugs involved benzodiazepines, with the number of seizures decreasing by 31% from 3,606 in year ending March 2021 to 2,485 in year ending March 2022.

2.4 Unknown substances

In the year ending March 2022, the number of seizures of unknown substances increased by 13% from 15,811 in the previous year to 17,870. Where a drug is described as ‘unknown’ or ‘drug not known’, this generally means that police or Border Force have seized substances which they cannot easily identify.

3. Quantity of drugs seized

Annual totals of the quantity of drugs seized can be greatly influenced by a small number of large seizures. As with the number of drug seizures, any large quantity of drugs seized should not be taken as an indication of drug use prevalence or availability.

3.1 Class A drugs

Cocaine: in the year ending March 2022, 18,767kg of cocaine were seized by police forces and Border Force; this was a 68% increase of 7,627kg, from 11,141kg in the previous year (see Figure 6). This is the largest recorded quantity of cocaine since records began. The majority, 60%, of cocaine seizures were under 1g, 36% were from 1g to <500g, and the remaining 3% weighed 500g and over.

Border Force seized the vast majority of the cocaine (17,087kg) in the year ending March 2022. This was an increase of 81% from 9,460kg in the year ending March 2021. This was driven by an increase in the number of seizures weighing 100kg or more by Border Force. The majority (59%) of cocaine seizures from Border Force weighed between 1g to <500g, with 35% weighing 500g or over. The quantity of cocaine seized by police forces was unchanged from 1,680kg in the year ending March 2022 compared to the previous year.

Heroin: the total quantity of heroin seized in the year ending March 2022 was 1,412kg, a 28% decrease from the 1,972kg seized in the previous year as shown in Figure 6. The decrease was largely driven by a 38% reduction in the quantity of heroin seized by Border Force, from 1,812kg in year ending March 2021 to 1,117kg in the latest year. By contrast, there was an 84% increase (160kg to 296kg) in the quantity of heroin seized by police forces.

As shown in Figure 7, 62% of heroin seizures in the year ending March 2022 weighed under 1g, 36% weighed from 1g to <500g, and the remaining 2% weighed 500g or more.

Crack: 43kg of crack was seized overall in the year ending March 2022, 8% less than the 47kg seized in the previous year. As shown in Figure 7, 62% weighed under 1g and 38% weighed from 1g to <500g.

Seizures of crack by Border Force decreased by 83%, from 0.06kg in the year ending March 2021 to 0.01kg in the year ending March 2022. This level is closer to figures in earlier years. The quantity of crack seized by Border Force tends to be small as most crack is made in England and Wales from imported powder cocaine.

Figure 6: Quantity of cocaine, heroin and crack seized, police forces and Border Force, years ending March 2007 to 2022

Source: Home Office, Summary Table 2.

Figure 7: Distribution of quantities of Class A drugs seized, summarised in grams, police forces and Border Force, year ending March 2022

Source: Home Office, Summary Table 3.

Notes:

1. Numbers may not sum to 100% due to rounding.

Ecstasy: the quantity of ecstasy seized decreased by 57% from 1.4 million to 596,970 doses between the years ending March 2021 and 2022. As shown in Figure 8, 43% of ecstasy seizures in the year ending March 2022 involved 10 or fewer doses and 33% involved over 10 doses.

LSD: the quantity of LSD seized by police forces and Border Force decreased by 73%, from 145,130 doses in the year ending March 2021, to 38,470 in the year ending March 2022.

Methadone: the quantity of methadone seized increased by 30%, from 80,250 to 104,650 doses between the years ending March 2021 and 2022.

Morphine: the quantity of morphine seized decreased by 48%, from 24,460 to 12,750 doses between the years ending March 2021 and 2022.

Fentanyl: a total of 17,081 doses of fentanyl and fentanyl analogues were seized by police forces and Border Force in the year ending March 2022.

Figure 8: Distribution of quantities of Class A drugs seized, summarised in doses, police forces and Border Force, year ending March 2022

Source: Home Office, Supplementary Table 2.

Notes:

1. Numbers may not sum to 100% due to rounding.

3.2 Class B drugs

3.2.1 Cannabis

Herbal cannabis: the total quantity of herbal cannabis seized in the year ending March 2022 increased by 107% from the previous year, from 17,155kg to 35,436kg, to the highest recorded quantity since 1994, when it was 56,440kg. Nineteen per cent of herbal cannabis seizures weighed less than 1g, 52% weighed from 1g to <5g, and 30% weighed 5g and over.

In the latest year, there was a large increase in the quantity of herbal cannabis seized by police forces by 173% (from 5,921kg to 16,138kg in the year ending March 2022). Seizures by Border Force increased by 72% from 11,234kg in the year ending March 2021 to 19,298kg in the year ending March 2022. Border Force made 22 seizures of herbal cannabis of 100kg and over in the year ending March 2022 which is likely to have driven the increase in overall quantity seized.

Cannabis resin: the total quantity of cannabis resin seized in the year ending March 2022 decreased by 69% compared with the previous year, from 1,989kg to 611kg. The quantity of cannabis resin seized by Border Force decreased by 72%, from 1,492kg to 422kg. Similarly, the quantity of cannabis resin seized by police forces decreased by 62%, from 498kg to 188kg. As shown in Figure 10, 17% of cannabis resin seizures in the year ending March 2022 weighed less than 1g, 8% weighed from 1g to <5g, and 75% weighed 5g or more.

Cannabis plants: in the year ending March 2022, a total of 785,955 cannabis plants were seized, a decrease of 2% from the previous year when 798,985 plants were seized. Almost all of these seizures were made by police forces (785,908 in the year ending March 2022). As shown in Figure 11, 45% of cannabis plant seizures involved 5 plants or fewer in year ending March 2022, 11% involved 6 to 10 plants, and the remaining 44% involved more than 10 plants.

Figure 9: Quantity of cannabis seized, police forces and Border Force, years ending March 2007 to 2022

Source: Home Office, Summary Table 2.

Figure 10: Distribution of quantities of herbal cannabis and cannabis resin seized, police forces and Border Force, year ending March 2022

Source: Home Office, Supplementary Table 2.

Notes:

1. Numbers may not sum to 100% due to rounding.

Figure 11: Distribution of quantities of cannabis plants seized, police forces and Border Force, year ending March 2022

Source: Home Office, Supplementary Table 2.

Notes:

1. Numbers may not sum to 100% due to rounding.

3.2.2 Other Class B drugs

Ketamine: 1,837kg of ketamine were seized in the year ending March 2022, an 884% increase from the previous year, when 187kg were seized. This was driven by a very large 981% increase in the quantity seized by Border Force (from 154kg to 1,664kg), though the quantity seized by police forces also increased by 428% from 33kg to 173kg. As shown in Figure 12, 42% of ketamine seizures weighed less than 1g in the year ending March 2022.

Amphetamines: overall, in the year ending March 2022, 243kg of amphetamines were seized, a 20% decrease on the previous year, when 305kg were seized. Police forces seized 163kg, a 39% decrease on the previous year when 270kg were seized. By contrast, Border Force seizures of amphetamines increased by 126% between the years ending March 2021 and 2022, from 35kg to 80kg. As shown in Figure 12, 48% of amphetamines seizures weighed less than 1g in the year ending March 2022.

Figure 12: Distribution of quantities of amphetamines and ketamine seized, police force and Border Force, year ending March 2022

Source: Home Office, Summary Table 3.

Notes:

1. Numbers may not sum to 100% due to rounding.

3.3 Class C drugs

Anabolic steroids: the total quantity of anabolic steroids seized increased by 58%, from 1.58 million doses to 2.5 million doses between years ending March 2021 and 2022. The quantity seized by police forces fell by 43% from 112,290 doses to 64,210 doses. By contrast, Border Force seizures of anabolic steroids rose by 66% from 1.47 million to 2.44 million doses. As shown in Figure 13, 32% of anabolic steroid seizures involved 10 doses or less in the year ending March 2022, 31% involved 11 to 100 doses and 21% involved over 100 doses.

Figure 13: Distribution of quantities of anabolic steroids, police forces and Border Force, year ending March 2022

Source: Home Office, Supplementary Table 2.

Notes:

1. Numbers may not sum to 100% due to rounding.

Benzodiazepines: the total quantity of benzodiazepines seized decreased by 57% between the years ending March 2021 and 2022, from 492,020 doses to 210,890 doses.

These figures for benzodiazepines are for police forces’ seizures only; from year ending March 2011, seizures of benzodiazepines could not be separately identified from the Border Force’s recording system.

GHB: there was a 753% increase in the quantity of GHB seized by police forces, from 1kg in the year ending March 2021 to 8kg in the latest year. Border Force seized 13kg of GHB in the year to March 2022, a decrease of 75% from 54kg seized in the year to March 2021.

Temazepam: police forces seized 18,960 doses of temazepam in the year ending March 2022, a 37% increase from the previous year when 13,800 doses were seized. Border Force seized 3,580 doses of temazepam in the year to March 2022, a decrease of 99% from the previous year when 400,930 doses were seized.

4. Seizures by authority

4.1 Number of seizures by authority

In the year ending March 2022, most (89%) seizures were made by police forces (168,050); the remaining 11% (20,879) were made by Border Force. The total number of seizures made by police forces in England and Wales fell by 14% in the year ending March 2022 compared with the previous year; similarly the total number of seizures made by Border Force over the same time period fell by 13%.

Table 1: Number of seizures made by police forces and Border Force, years ending 2021 and 2022

	Police forces FYE 2021	Police forces FYE 2022	Police forces % change	Border Force FYE 2021	Border Force FYE 2022	Border Force % change
Class A	31,594	29,236	-7	11,556	7,879	-32
Class B	157,020	128,754	-18	9,607	9,801	2
Class C	5,715	4,488	-21	3,244	3,453	6
All	195,566	168,050	-14	24,012	20,879	-13

Source: Home Office, Summary Table 1.

• in the year ending March 2022, police forces accounted for 79% of all seizures of Class A drugs, 93% of all seizures of Class B drugs and 57% of seizures of Class C drugs
• for Class A drugs, police forces were responsible for almost all seizures of crack, 95% of heroin, 95% of cocaine and 93% of morphine
• for Class B seizures, police forces were responsible for 94% of cannabis seizures, 88% of amphetamine seizures and 82% of ‘Other Class B’ seizures
• for Class C seizures, 95% of the temazepam seizures were attributed to police forces and 100% of benzodiazepine seizures recorded were from police forces because Border Force are not able to identify these separately on their system
• police forces were also responsible for 49% of anabolic steroids seizures, 72% of GHB seizures and 36% of ‘Other Class C’ seizures

Figure 14: Proportion of drug seizure numbers by drug type and authority, year ending March 2022

Source: Home Office, Summary Table 4.

4.2 Quantity of seizures by authority

Although Border Force accounted for just 11% of drug seizures in the year ending March 2022, they seized a much higher proportion in terms of quantity. This is because the agency is often involved in operations where large quantities of drugs are seized, for example at airports or ferry ports.

• for Class A seizures, Border Force seized 91% (17,087kg) of the total quantity of cocaine seized, 79% (1,117kg) of heroin and 72% (432,150 doses) of ecstasy, as shown in Figure 15
• for Class B seizures, Border Force seized 54% (19,298kg) of herbal cannabis, 33% (80kg) of amphetamines, and 91% (1,664kg) of ketamine
• for Class C seizures, Border Force seized 97% (2.44 million doses) of anabolic steroids, 63% (13kg) of GHB and 16% (3,582 doses) of temazepam

In general, Border Force seized much larger quantities of drugs per seizure than police forces. For drugs measured in grams, 29% of seizures by police forces weighed under 1g, compared with 1% of seizures made by Border Force. For drugs measured in doses, 78% of seizures by police forces involved fewer than 50 doses, compared with 48% of seizures made by Border Force. A further breakdown by drug type is provided in Figure 16 to Figure 19.

Figure 15: Proportion of drug seizure quantities by drug type and authority, year ending March 2022

Source: Home Office, Summary Table 5.

Figure 16: Distribution of drug seizure quantities of cocaine by authority, year ending March 2022

Figure 17: Distribution of drug seizure quantities of heroin by authority, year ending March 2022

Figure 18: Distribution of drug seizure quantities of herbal cannabis by authority, year ending March 2022

Figure 19: Distribution of drug seizure quantities of ecstasy by authority, year ending March 2022

Source: Home Office, Summary Table 3.

Notes:

1. Border Force’s numbers do not sum to 100% due to unknown banded quantities.

5. New psychoactive substances

5.1 Number of NPS seizures

In the year ending March 2022 there were 3,054 seizures of NPS by police forces and Border Force in the year ending March 2022, a 26% decrease from the previous year (4,108). Of NPS seizures, synthetic cannabinoids were the most common, involved in 57% of seizures.

Nitrous oxide: total nitrous oxide seizures by police forces and Border Force decreased by 16%, from 374 in year ending March 2021 to 314 seizures in year ending March 2022.

NPS powders: the number of total seizures of NPS powders decreased by 26%, from 358 to 266.

NPS Other: seizures of NPS Other decreased by 25%, from 1,222 to 918 seizures between the years ending March 2021 and 2022.

Synthetic cannabinoids: in the year ending March 2022, there were 1,731 seizures of synthetic cannabinoids, a decrease of 24% from the previous year.

Figure 20: Number of NPS seizures by drug type and authority, years ending March 2021 and 2022

Source: Home Office, Appendix Table 1

5.2 Quantity of NPS seizures

Nitrous oxide: a total of 1.24 million doses of nitrous oxide were seized by police forces and Border Force in the year ending March 2022; this comprised 31,531 doses seized by police forces and 1.21 million doses seized by Border Force, the latter being 97% of the total (Figure 21) and was an overall decrease of 42% when compared to the previous year.

NPS Other: as shown in Figure 22, a total of 8,198 doses of NPS Other were seized by police forces and Border Force in the year ending March 2022, of which 46% (3,802 doses) were seized by Border Force, and 54% (4,396 doses) were seized by police forces.

As shown in Figure 23, a total of 138kg of NPS Other (weighed) were seized, representing a 76% decrease from the previous year (568kg); most of these seizures were by Border Force (98%; 135kg).

Synthetic cannabinoids: police forces seized a total of 20kg and 2,156 doses of synthetic cannabinoids in the year ending March 2022; this is a 32% and an 86% decrease respectively from the previous year. Border Force seized 42 doses and 13kg of synthetic cannabinoids in the year ending March 2022, but were unable to supply quantities of this in the previous year.

NPS powders: a total of 39kg of NPS powders were seized in the year ending March 2022, an 87% decrease from the previous year (297kg). Border Force seized 94% of the total NPS powders in the year ending March 2022.

NPS powders seizures made by Border Force decreased by 87%, from 294kg in the year ending March 2021 to 37kg in the year ending March 2022; police forces seized 2kg of NPS powders in the year ending March 2022, compared to 3kg in the year ending March 2021, a 32% decrease (Figure 23).

Figure 21: Quantities of nitrous oxide seized (doses) by authority, years ending March 2021 and 2022

Source: Home Office, Appendix Table 2.

Figure 22: Quantities of other NPS and synthetic cannabinoids seized (doses) by authority, years ending March 2021 and 2022

Source: Home Office, Appendix Table 2.

Figure 23: Quantities of NPS drugs seized by drug type and authority, summarised in kilograms, years ending March 2021 and 2022

Source: Home Office, Appendix Table 2.

6. Interpreting the figures and related publications

For information related to data quality, please see the user guide.

The latest drug seizure statistics for Scotland are available online on the Scottish Government website.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) collects and publishes data on drug seizures by police in Northern Ireland. They are available online on the Police Service of Northern Ireland website.

A quarterly breakdown of Border Force seizures in the UK is available online as part of their regular key performance indicators in their Border Force transparency data.

The extent and trends in illicit drug use among adults aged 16 to 59 is measured by the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW). The latest results covering the period ending June 2022 were published by ONS on 15 December 2022. According to the CSEW for the period October 2021 to June 2022, around 1 in 11 (9%) adults had taken an illicit drug in that year. This was the same proportion as the previous year. Please see the latest versions of the Drug misuse: Findings from the 2021 to 2022 CSEW and the Crime Survey in England and Wales appendix (data) tables for further details.

The Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use among Young People in England is published by NHS Digital and contains results from a survey of school children aged 7 to 11. Based on the 2021 survey (which was published on 6th September 2022), 18% of pupils reported they had ever taken drugs. This was lower than the 24% reported in the 2016 and 2018 surveys, and similar to the 2010 level of 18%.

Frequency of release: Annual

Forthcoming release: Home Office statistics release calendar

Home Office responsible statistician: Amy Baxter

Press enquires: pressoffice@homeoffice.gov.uk, Telephone: 020 7035 3535

Public enquires: drugseizures.datacollection@homeoffice.gov.uk