Accredited official statistics

Seizures of drugs in England and Wales, financial year ending 2024

Updated 13 February 2025

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 2024 in England and Wales. The data relates 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 2024, imputation methods were used for approximately 2% of the total number of drug seizures and data imputation was performed solely for police seizures.

1. Main points

In the year ending March 2024:

• police forces and Border Force made a total of 217,644 drug seizures in England and Wales, a 13% increase compared to the previous year (192,145). The increase was caused by a 6% increase in police force seizures and a 57% increase in Border Force seizures

• police forces accounted for the majority (81%) of the 217,644 seizures, with Border Force accounting for 19% of seizures

• Border Force seized a total of 105.73 tonnes of weighed drugs, which is the highest weight seized by Border Force since the series began in 1973 (98% of Border force seizures involved weighted drugs). Border force recorded their highest number of total seizures to date (40,639), a 57% increase from the previous year. These increases were mainly driven by herbal cannabis seizures

• Border Force seized the largest quantity of powder cocaine (26.57 tonnes) since the time series began, a 75% increase from the previous year (15.22 tonnes)

• the quantity of heroin seized decreased by 54%, from 950kg to 441kg, compared to the previous year. This is the lowest quantity of heroin seized since 1989. The total number of heroin seizures also decreased by 4%, from 6,385 to 6,102 seizures, making it the lowest number of heroin seizures since 1994

• police forces and Border Force seized the largest quantity of herbal cannabis since the time series began in 1973. This was a 53% increase from the previous year (55.59 to 85.01 tonnes). This was mainly due to Border Force seizing the largest quantity of herbal cannabis since the series began (74.15 tonnes)

• Border Force carried out the highest number of total cannabis seizures since the time series began in 1996 (34,446). This was largely driven by a 73% increase in the number of herbal cannabis seizures made by Border Force compared to the previous year (19,105 to 32,981) and a 49% increase in the number of cannabis resin seizures made by Border Force (781 to 1,164)

• police forces and Border Force carried out the highest number of ketamine seizures since the time series began in 2006/07 (2,252). This was a 51% increase on the previous year (1,487)

• police forces accounted for 81% of the number of seizures made in year ending March 2024, whereas Border Force accounted for a much larger proportion of the quantity of drugs seized (this included 94% powder cocaine, 91% cannabis resin, 87% herbal cannabis)

The number of seizures can be heavily affected by factors such as enforcement activity, changes in recording practices and the demand and supply of drugs. For the latest published estimates of drug use see the Crime Survey for England and Wales.

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.

2. Number of seizures

In the year ending March 2024:

Police forces and Border forces made 217,644 drug seizures in England and Wales. This is a 13% increase on the previous year.

Other key findings were:

• all classes of drugs saw an increase in the number of seizures, with Class B seizures increasing by 13,882 (+10%), Class A increasing by 4,677 (+14%), and Class C by 3,508 (+46%)

• cannabis (herbal, plant and resin) seizures increased by 9% and cannabis remains the most seized drug, followed by powder cocaine

• similar to previous years, police forces accounted for the majority (81%) of the number of seizures compared to Border Force (19%)

Figure 1: Number of seizures of total drugs, Class A, Class B and Class C drugs by police forces and Border Force, years ending March 2007 to 2024

Source: Home Office, Summary Table 1.

The MDA divides drugs into 3 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.

When police forces make a drug seizure, the seizure is recorded, as is the drug offence. Therefore, the total number of drug seizures per year follows a similar trend to the number of police recorded drug offences (shown in 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 - Appendix table. 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 2024, police forces recorded 181,421 drug offences, a 1% increase from the previous year (179,467).

There was a 5% decrease in the number of stop and searches for drugs in the year ending March 2024 (316,138) compared to the previous year (331,949), as noted in Police powers and procedures statistics. Since the peak in the year ending March 2009 (243,536), the number of drug offences recorded by the police has decreased by 26% from 243,536 to 181,421. Similarly, the number of drug seizures by police forces has decreased in the same time period, by 24% from 233,793 to 177,005.

Figure 2: Index of police recorded drug offences and the total number of drug seizures by police forces, years ending March 2007 to 2024

Source: Home Office, Summary Table 1. Office for National Statistics (ONS), Crime in England and Wales, year ending March 2024, 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 2024:

There were 37,726 seizures of Class A drugs, a 14% decrease on the previous year (33,049).

Powder cocaine: the number of powder cocaine seizures increased by 14%, from 18,978 to 21,548, compared to the previous year. This is the highest number of powder cocaine seizures recorded since year ending March 2009. Powder cocaine accounted for over half (57%) of all Class A seizures.

Heroin: the number of heroin seizures decreased by 4%, from 6,385 to 6,102, compared to the previous year. This is the lowest number of heroin seizures recorded since 1994, continuing a downward trend since 2020/21. Heroin accounted for 16% of all Class A seizures.

Crack cocaine: the number of crack cocaine seizures increased by 10%, from 6,064 to 6,678, compared to the previous year, as shown in Figure 3. Crack cocaine accounted for nearly one fifth of all Class A seizures.

Ecstasy: the number of ecstasy seizures increased by 22%, from 1,576 to 1,919, compared to the previous year, as shown in Figure 3.

Methadone: the number of methadone seizures increased by 1%, from 495 to 500, compared to the previous year.

LSD: the number of LSD seizures decreased by 1%, from 264 to 261, compared to the previous year.

Morphine: the number of morphine seizures increased by 11%, from 250 to 277, compared to the previous year.

Fentanyl: the number of fentanyl seizures remained low, with 22 seizures of fentanyl and 6 seizures of fentanyl analogues, following a similar trend in previous years.

Figure 3: Number of seizures of the main Class A drug types by police forces and Border Force, years ending March 2007 to March 2024

Source: Home Office, Summary Table 1.

2.2 Class B drugs

In the year ending March 2024:

There were 159,406 seizures of Class B drugs, a 10% increase on the previous year (145,524). As in previous years, the majority of Class B seizures involved cannabis, accounting for 96% (152,660) of all Class B seizures in which at least one form of cannabis was present.

2.2.1 Cannabis

In the year ending March 2024:

There were 152,660 seizures of cannabis, a 9% increase from the previous year (140,363). Border force seized the highest number of total cannabis seizures since the time series began in 1996 (34,446)

Cannabis has consistently accounted for the majority of overall seizures. For example, in the current year cannabis was present in 70% of all seizures made by Border Force and police forces. Therefore, the number of cannabis seizures made in a given year will strongly influence overall trends

Herbal cannabis: the majority (88%) of cannabis seizures involved herbal cannabis, with 134,570 seizures recorded. This represents a 10% increase from the previous year (122,657). Border Force made the highest number of herbal cannabis seizures since the series began, with 32,981 seizures, a 73% increase from the previous year. Police forces made 101,589 herbal cannabis seizures, a 2% decrease from the previous year

Cannabis resin: the number of cannabis resin seizures increased by 5%, from 10,396 to 10,959, compared to the previous year. This is the highest number of cannabis resin seizures since 2011/12.

Cannabis plants: the number of cannabis plant seizures decreased by 2%, from 9,863 to 9,710, compared to the previous year.

Figure 4: Number of cannabis seizures by police forces and Border Force, years ending March 2007 to 2024

Source: Home Office, Summary Table 1.

2.2.2 Further Class B drugs

In the year ending March 2024:

‘Other Class B drugs’: the number of seizures of ‘Other Class B’ drugs was the second most common Class B drug seized (behind cannabis), with 3,823 seizures, a 52% increase from the previous year (2,507). An example of ‘Other Class B’ drugs is THC cannabis oil.

Amphetamines: the number of amphetamines seizures decreased by 6%, from 2,482 to 2,337, compared to the previous year.

Ketamine: the number of ketamine seizures increased by 51%, from 1,487 to 2,252, compared to the previous year. This is the highest number of ketamine seizures since the time series began in 2006/07.

Synthetic cannabinoids: the number of synthetic cannabinoids seizures increased by 60%, from 637 to 1,020, compared to the previous year.

GHB: the number of GHB seizures increased by 50%, from 58 to 87, compared to the previous year.

Mephedrone (non-injection): The number of non-injection mephedrone seizures increased by 48%, from 23 to 34, compared to the previous year.

2.3 Class C drugs

In the year ending March 2024:

There were 11,218 seizures of Class C drugs, a 46% increase on the previous year (7,710).

‘Other Class C’: the number of seizures of ‘Other Class C’ drugs was 6,157, accounting for 55% of all Class C seizures. This represents a 34% increase from the previous year, when 4,609 seizures were made. Examples of ‘Other Class C’ drugs include khat and pregabalin.

Benzodiazepines: the number of benzodiazepine seizures increased by 5%, from 1,860 to 1,959, compared to the previous year.

Nitrous Oxide: the number of nitrous oxide seizures increased by 237%, from 761 to 2,564, compared to the previous year. 23% of all seizures of Class C drugs involved nitrous oxide.

2.4 Unknown substances

In the year ending March 2024:

There were 23,724 seizures of unknown substances, a 27% increase on the previous year (18,643). Unknown substances were present in 11% of all seizures made. Where a drug is described as ‘unknown’ or ‘drug not known’, this generally means that police forces 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

In the year ending March 2024:

Powder cocaine: 28.27 tonnes of powder cocaine was seized by police forces and Border Force; representing a 52% increase compared to the previous year. This is the largest recorded quantity of cocaine since the time series began in 1973.

Border Force seized the vast majority (94%) of power cocaine, amounting to 26.57 tonnes. This was a 75% increase from 15.22 tonnes in the previous year. Police forces seized 1.69 tonnes of powder cocaine, representing a 50% decrease compared to the previous year.

As shown in Figure 6, 62% of powder cocaine seizures were under 1g, 36% were between 1g to <500g, and the remaining 2% weighed 500g and over. There was an increase in the number of seizures that contained 100kg or more by Border Force, which is likely to have driven the overall increase in quantity.

Heroin: the total quantity of heroin seized decreased by 54%, from 950kg to 441kg, compared to the previous year. This is the lowest quantity of heroin seized since 1989. As shown in Figure 6, 65% of heroin seizures were under 1g, 34% were between 1g to <500g, and the remaining 1% weighed 500g and over.

Crack cocaine: the total quantity of crack cocaine seized decreased by 27%, from 54kg to 40kg, compared to the previous year. As shown in Figure 6, 62% of seizures weighed under 1g and 38% weighed between 1g to <500g.

Seizures of crack cocaine made by Border Force increased by 88%, from 3.42kg to 6.43kg, compared to the previous year. The quantity of crack seized by Border Force tends to be small as most crack cocaine is made in England and Wales from imported powder cocaine. Police forces accounted for the majority of the quantity of crack cocaine seizures (84%), as with previous years.

Figure 5: Quantity of powder cocaine and heroin seized by police forces and Border Force, years ending March 2007 to March 2024

Source: Home Office, Summary Table 2.

Figure 6: Distribution of quantities of Class A drugs measured in grams, seized by police forces and Border Force, year ending March 2024

Source: Home Office, Summary Table 3.

Notes:

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

Ecstasy: the total quantity of ecstasy seized increased by 4%, from 1.56 million doses to 1.62 million doses, compared to the previous year. This rise was driven by a 100% increase in the quantity of ecstasy seized by police forces, from 207,000 doses to 413,000 doses. As shown in Figure 7, 69% of ecstasy seizures involved 10 or fewer doses.

Methadone: the total quantity of methadone seized increased by 88%, from 39,560 doses to 74,390 doses, compared to the previous year. This increase was due to the 88% rise in the quantity of methadone seized from police forces, from 39,400 doses to 74,240 doses.

LSD: the total quantity of LSD seized by police forces and Border Force decreased by 77%, from 38,490 doses to 8,990 doses, compared to the previous year.

Morphine: the total quantity of morphine seized increased by 36%, from 18,380 doses to 24,960 doses, compared to the previous year.

Fentanyl: fentanyl and fentanyl analogues are recorded in 3 different preparation types: doses, kilograms and wraps. A total of 219 doses, 1.4kg and 0 wraps of fentanyl and fentanyl analogues were seized by police forces and Border Force.

Figure 7: Distribution of quantities of Class A drugs measured in doses, seized by police forces and Border Force, year ending March 2024

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

In the year ending March 2024:

Herbal cannabis: the total quantity of herbal cannabis seized increased by 53%, from 55.59 tonnes to 85.01 tonnes, compared to the previous year. This is the largest recorded quantity of herbal cannabis seized since records began. 16% of herbal cannabis seizures weighed less than 1g and 62% weighed from 1g up to 500g.

Seizures made by police forces increased by 23%, from 8.79 tonnes to 10.86 tonnes, compared to the previous year. Border Force seized the largest quantity of herbal cannabis since the time series began in 1973, amounting to 74.15 tonnes, a 58% increase from the previous year. Border Force made 44 seizures of herbal cannabis containing 100kg or more, compared to 31 in the previous year. This drove the increase in overall quantity seized.

Cannabis resin: the total quantity of cannabis resin seized increased by 183%, from 1.47 tonnes to 4.16 tonnes, compared to the previous year. This rise was driven by a 313% increase in the quantity of cannabis resin seized by Border Force, from 0.92 tonnes to 3.80 tonnes, compared to the previous year.

As shown in Figure 9, 17% of cannabis resin seizures weighed less than 1g and 76% weighed from 1g up to 500g. This is similar to the distribution of the quantity of cannabis resin seizures in the previous year.

Cannabis plants: a total of 0.48 million cannabis plants were seized, a decrease of 6% from the 0.52 million plants seized in the previous year. Almost all (~100%) of these seizures were made by police forces. As shown in Figure 10, 69% of cannabis plant seizures involved 10 plants or fewer. This may however be a result of limitations to cannabis plant recording systems, which mean in some instances one cannabis plant is recorded by default when there were too many plants to count, resulting in under-recording.

Figure 8: Quantity of herbal cannabis and cannabis resin seized by police forces and Border Force, years ending March 2007 to March 2024

Source: Home Office, Summary Table 2.

Figure 9: Quantity of cannabis plants seized by police forces and Border Force, years ending March 2007 to March 2024

Source: Home Office, Supplementary Table 2.

Figure 10: Distribution of quantities of herbal cannabis and cannabis resin seized by police forces and Border Force, year ending March 2024

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 by police forces and Border Force, year ending March 2024

Source: Home Office, Supplementary Table 2.

Notes:

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

3.2.2 Other Class B drugs

In the year ending March 2024:

Ketamine: the total quantity of ketamine seized decreased by 40%, from 1,434kg to 855kg, compared to the previous year. Police forces seized 86kg, a decrease of 83% compared to the previous year, when 500kg were seized. Border Force seized 769kg, an 18% decrease from 934kg in the previous year.

As shown in Figure 12, the vast majority of ketamine seizures contain small quantities of ketamine: 52% of ketamine seizures weighed less than 1g and 40% of seizures weighed from 1g to <500g.

Amphetamines: the total quantity of amphetamines seized decreased by 14%, from 331kg to 285kg, compared to the previous year. Police forces seized 241kg, a decrease of 16% compared to the previous year, when 286kg were seized. Border Force seizures of amphetamines decreased by 2%, from 45kg to 43kg, compared to the previous year.

As with ketamine, the majority of amphetamine seizures contained small quantities: 52% of seizures weighed less than 1g and 41% weighed from 1g to <500g.

Synthetic cannabinoids: a total of 3,652 doses and 27kg of synthetic cannabinoids were seized. Quantities of synthetic cannabinoid seizures increased for both doses and in weight compared to the previous year, by 2% and 145%, respectively.

GHB: the total quantity of GHB seized increased by 876%, from 6kg to 60kg, compared to the previous year.

Figure 12: Distribution of quantities of amphetamines and ketamine seized by police force and Border Force, year ending March 2024

Source: Home Office, Summary Table 3.

Notes:

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

3.3 Class C drugs

In the year ending March 2024:

Anabolic steroids: the total quantity of anabolic steroids seized increased by 26%, from 754,100 doses to 950,480 doses, compared to the previous year. This rise was largely driven by a 29% increase in the quantity of anabolic steroids seized by Border Force, from 702,670 doses to 905,130 doses. The quantity seized by police forces decreased by 12%, from 51,420 to 45,350 doses. As shown in Figure 13, 40% of anabolic steroid seizures involved 10 doses or fewer.

Figure 13: Distribution of quantities of anabolic steroids by police forces and Border Force, year ending March 2024

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 50%, from 463,580 doses to 229,750 doses, compared to the previous year.

These figures reflect police forces’ seizures only; from year ending March 2011 onwards, seizures of benzodiazepines could not be separately identified from the Border Force’s recording system and instead are reported in the ‘Other Class C’ category.

Temazepam: the total quantity of temazepam seized increased by 85%, from 20,190 doses to 37,290 doses, compared to the previous year. This increase was primarily driven by a 981% rise in the quantity of temazepam seized by police forces, from 2,160 doses to 23,340 doses. Border Force, however, seized 13,950 doses, which represents a 23% decrease from the previous year, when 18,030 doses were seized.

4. Seizures by authority

4.1 Number of seizures by authority

In the year ending March 2024:

Most (81%) seizures were made by police forces (177,005); the remaining 19% (40,639) were made by Border Force. The total number of seizures made by police forces in England and Wales rose by 6% compared with the previous year. Similarly, the total number of seizures made by Border Force over the same time period increased by 57%, which also drove the total number of seizures made in the year ending March 2024 to increase by 13%.

Table 1: Number of seizures made by police forces and Border Force, years ending 2023 and 2024

	Police forces year ending March 2023	Police forces year ending March 2024	Police forces % change	Border Force year ending March 2023	Border Force year ending March 2024	Border Force % change
Class A	30,499	35,065	+15%	2,550	2,661	+4%
Class B	124,551	123,998	-0%	20,979	35,408	+69%
Class C	5,262	8,446	+61%	2,448	2,772	+13%
All drugs	166,311	177,005	+6%	25,834	40,639	+57%

Source: Home Office, Summary Table 1.

Notes:

1. Police forces accounted for 93% of all seizures of Class A drugs, 78% of all seizures of Class B drugs and 75% of seizures of Class C drugs.
2. For Class A drugs, police forces were responsible for more than 99.9% of crack cocaine, 99% of heroin, 97% of powder cocaine and 94% of morphine.
3. For Class B seizures, police forces were responsible for 77% of cannabis seizures, 93% of amphetamine seizures and 84% of ‘Other Class B’ seizures.
4. For Class C seizures, 97% 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.
5. Police forces were also responsible for 64% of anabolic steroids seizures and 60% of ‘Other Class C’ seizures.

Figure 14: Proportion of drug seizure numbers by drug type and authority, year ending March 2024

Source: Home Office, Summary Table 4.

4.2 Quantity of seizures by authority

In the year ending March 2024:

Border Force activity accounted for 19% of drug seizures, but they seized a much higher proportion of the quantity of drugs than police forces. This is because Border Force 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 94% (26.57 tonnes) of the total quantity of powder cocaine seized, 74% (327kg) of heroin and 74% (1.21 million doses) of ecstasy, as shown in Figure 15
• for Class B seizures, Border Force seized 87% (74.15 tonnes) of herbal cannabis, 15% (43kg) of amphetamines, 90% (769kg) of ketamine and were responsible for almost all seizures of GHB
• for Class C seizures, Border Force seized 95% (0.91 million doses) of anabolic steroids and 37% (13,950 doses) of temazepam

Police forces seized a higher percentage of the quantity of crack cocaine (84%), methadone (100%), morphine (88%), cannabis plants (100%) and amphetamines (85%) than Border Force in year ending March 2024.

Police forces seize a higher number of seizures than Border Force, which contain lower quantities of drugs. For example, 64% of police force seizures of powder cocaine weighed under 1g, compared to 3% of Border Force seizures.

Figure 15: Proportion of drug seizure quantities by drug type and authority, year ending March 2024

Source: Home Office, Summary Table 5.

Figure 16: Distribution of drug seizure quantities of powder cocaine by authority, year ending March 2024

Figure 17: Distribution of drug seizure quantities of heroin by authority, year ending March 2024

Figure 18: Distribution of drug seizure quantities of herbal cannabis by authority, year ending March 2024

Figure 19: Distribution of drug seizure quantities of ecstasy by authority, year ending March 2024

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 (NPS)

5.1 Number of NPS seizures

In the year ending March 2024:

There were 1,186 seizures of all NPS drugs, a 15% decrease compared to the previous year (1,393). It is important to note that there are many different types of NPS drugs, some of which are new emerging ones, meaning they can be difficult to identify and record. For this reason, some NPS drugs may be recorded in ‘NPS other’ whilst some may appear in the ‘unknown’ category.

NPS other: the number of NPS other seizures decreased by 18%, from 1,185 seizures to 975 seizures, compared to the previous year.

Synthetic cannabinoids: the number of synthetic cannabinoid seizures increased by 60%, from 637 seizures to 1,020 seizures, compared to the previous year.

NPS powders: the number of NPS powder seizures increased by 17%, from 181 seizures to 211 seizures, compared to the previous year.

Figure 20: Number of NPS seizures by drug type and authority, years ending March 2023 and 2024

Source: Home Office, Appendix Table 1

5.2 Quantity of NPS seizures

In the year ending March 2024:

NPS other: a total of 4,033 doses of NPS other were seized by police forces and Border Force, as shown in Figure 21. Of this total, 11% (432 doses) were seized by Border Force.

As shown in Figure 22, a total of 371kg of NPS other (weighed) were seized, representing a 53% reduction from the previous year (783kg); most of these seizures were made by Border Force (94%; 348kg).

NPS powders: a total of 333kg of NPS powders were seized, which represents a 208% increase from the previous year, when 108kg were seized. Border Force accounted for 54% of the total NPS powders seized.

Synthetic cannabinoids: a total of 3,652 doses of synthetic cannabinoids were seized, representing a 2% increase from the previous year. 100% of these were made by police forces.

A total of 27kg of synthetic cannabinoids were seized, 100% of which were seized by police forces.

Figure 21: Quantities of other NPS and synthetic cannabinoids seized (doses) by authority, years ending March 2023 and 2024

Source: Home Office, Appendix Table 2.

Figure 22: Quantities of NPS drugs seized by drug type and authority, summarised in kilograms, years ending March 2023 and 2024

Source: Home Office, Appendix Table 2.

6. Interpreting the figures and related publications

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

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 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.

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 March 2024 were published by ONS on 12 December 2024. According to the CSEW for the year ending March 2024, around 2.9 million (8.8%) 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 2023 to 2024 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 in years 7 to 11 (mostly aged 11 to 15). Based on the 2023 survey (which was published on 17 October 2024), 13% of pupils reported they had ever taken drugs. This was lower than the 18% reported in the 2021 survey.

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