Amazing Statistics on Drugs in the UK 1995 - 1999

DRUG RELATED DEATHS;
Every 3 minutes, there is a death related to the use of legal psychoactive drugs.
* Every 4 minutes someone dies from a disease caused by using tobacco.
* Every 13 minutes someone dies from alcohol related illness, injury or accident.
* Every 2 days someone dies from using over the counter analgesics.
* Every day someone dies from using prescribed tranquilisers or sleeping pills.

Every three hours, someone dies from the use of an illicit drug.
* Every 20 hours someone dies from using methadone (prescibed or illicit)
* Every 2 days someone dies from using heroin
* Every 3 days someone dies from HIV/AIDS contracted by sharing needles
* Every 4 days someone dies from using barbiturates (illegal or prescribed)
* Every 7 days someone dies from inhaling the fumes of volatile substances (solvents, etc.)
* Every 10 days someone dies from using stimulant amphetamines
* Every 20 days someone dies from using ecstasy (MDA type drugs, especially MDMA)
* Every 26 days someone dies from using cocaine
* Every four months someone dies from using cannabis (according to Big Brother, i.e., The Home Office)
* About once a year, someone dies in an accident related to the use of hallucinogens (notably LSD or magic mushrooms)

Comparible rates for other causes include;
* Every 2 hours someone dies in a traffic or road accident.
* Every 2 hours someone dies from influenza
* Every 2 hours someone commits suicide
* Every 18 hours someone is murdered

Enforcing the prohibition on drugs; police, courts and prisons

About once every minute someone is apprehended by the police or Customs and Excise on suspicion of a drugs offence.

Every 1.5 minutes, a person or vehicle is stopped and searched for drugs by the police - although only 1 in 9 searches result in an arrest on a drugs charge.

Every 4 minutes drugs are seized by the police and /or Customs and Excise.

Every 4 minutes someone is dealt with for a drugs offence by police and/or Customs and Excise.

Every 5 minutes someone is criminalised for a drugs offence

Every 10 minutes someone is convicted in court for a drug offence

Every 9 minutes someone is cautioned by the police for a drugs offence

Every 16 hours someone is compounded (spot fined) by Customs and Excise for a drugs offence (typically importation of a small amount of cannabis)

Every 25 minutes someone is not criminalised after arrest/charge/prosecution for a drugs offence

Every 45 minutes someone is released without charge after being arrested/charged for a drugs offence - including no further action (NFA) and informal warnings (IW)

Every 50 minutes someone is found not guilty in court on a drugs offence charge

BY TYPE OF DRUG

Someone is criminalised for a cannabis offence every 6 minutes

Someone is criminalised for an amphetamine offence every 40 minutes

Someone is criminalised for a heroin offence every 60 minutes

Someone is criminalised every 2 hours for an ecstasy (MDA type drug) offence

Someone is criminalised for a cocaine offence every 2.5 hours

Someone is criminalised for an LSD offence every 12 hours

Someone is criminalised for a methadone offence every 12 hours

Someone is criminalised for a crack (cocaine freebase) offence every 16 hours

BY TYPE OF OFFENCE

Every 5 minutes someone is criminalised for possession of drugs

Every 7 minutes some is criminalised for possession of cannabis

Every 19 minutes someone is criminalised for other drug offences

Every 2 hours someone is criminalised for production of drugs

Every 2.25 hours someone is criminalised for cultivating cannabis

Almost once a day someone is criminalised for production of other drugs

Every 64 minutes someone is criminalised for intending to supply drugs

Every 90 minutes someone is criminalised for supplying drugs

Every 5 hours someone is criminalised for importing or exporting drugs

Every 11 hours someone is criminalised for allowing their premises to be used for drug offences

Some Miscellaneous Statistics

The total "profit" made by the British criminal justice system from processing drug offenders in 1997 was about £20 million, including;

1) £11 million from cash seized during importation/exportation, and ordered forfeit by the courts because there were reasonable grounds to suspect that it was connected to drug trafficking (Part 2 of the Drug Trafficking Act, 1994)

2) £6 million from the seized assets of convicted drug traffickers (confiscation orders under DTOA)

3) £2.5 million from fines for drug offences in courts (largely under the Misuse of Drugs Act, 1971)

4) About £50, 000 from "spot fines", including compounding for import/export of small amounts of drugs (Customs & Excise Management Act, 1979) and fiscal fines in Scotland (since 1997)

The total cost of processing drug offenders to the British criminal justice system in 1997 was about £1.1 billion (including £250 million for the costs of imprisoning drug offenders), thus "profits" contribute about 2% to the total cost.

Compiled by Dr. Russell Newcombe, 3D Research Bureau, Liverpool (5/99)
 

 

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From May 2000