Number of drug offences in England and Wales 2002-2024

In 2023/24, there were 181,421 drug offences in England and Wales, compared with 179,467 in the previous year. For the period between 2002/03 and the most recent reporting year, drug offences in England and Wales peaked in 2008/09 when their were over 243,000 of these offences. Since the peak in 2008/09 the number of drug offences has declined, with 2017/18 having the fewest number of offences. 

Cannabis involved in highest number of seizures

In 2022/23, the police and border forces in England and Wales made approximately 140,370 seizures of cannabis, the most of any drug. By comparison, the next-most common drug, Cocaine, was seized by the police just 18,978 times. While the current government has no plans to legalize cannabis, approximately 32 percent of UK citizens surveyed in 2024 thought that the drug should be legal, with a further 24 percent supporting its decriminalization. Recent surveys also indicate that almost one in three people in England and Wales had used Cannabis at some point in their lives, despite it being illegal.

Regional drug crime

When broken down by individual police force areas, Merseyside Police, who cover the city of Liverpool, had the highest drug crime rate in England and Wales, at 8.6 offences per 1,000 population. For the whole of England and Wales, the drug crime rate per 1,000 people was three, and was lowest in Dorset, where it was just 1.3. In terms of drug seizures, London was the region with the highest drug seizure rate in England and Wales in 2022/23 at 3,920 seizures per million people, followed by the North East of England at 3,832. By contrast, the West Midlands of England had the lowest of any region, with 1,545 seizures per million people in the same year.