Drug Abuse

Mrs. Mahon

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the number of drug addicts in each regional health authority each year since 1979.

The number of addicts notified by doctors to the Home Office are given for each regional health authority and the years 1987 to 1990 in table A7 of "Statistics of the Misuse of Drugs: Addicts Notified to the

Persons found guilty of drugs offences by police force area and year¹
England and Wales	Number of persons
Police force	1979	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990
England
Avon and Somerset	319	383	388	542	396	374	358	410	350	336	560	164
Bedfordshire	50	77	69	75	100	79	110	96	74	74	126	137
Cambridgeshire	317	300	275	169	152	108	151	164	159	132	156	234
Cheshire	110	171	144	184	206	298	223	209	411	395	511	324
Cleveland	104	118	84	58	41	57	98	78	69	90	95	93
Cumbria	130	174	246	374	288	289	335	293	290	364	376	326
Derbyshire	92	107	130	124	81	144	167	95	148	127	129	219
Devon and Cornwall	322	432	363	464	505	474	696	545	588	599	651	689
Dorset	115	161	162	224	183	222	197	129	91	64	132	165
Durham	51	60	49	59	89	76	62	34	63	67	80	61
Essex	129	240	219	259	249	323	344	162	204	255	325	400
Gloucestershire	157	202	183	207	213	248	194	128	143	108	167	154
Greater Manchester	410	519	886	769	874	919	1,019	880	1,006	964	1,301	1,356
Hampshire	397	332	432	282	336	339	315	342	250	328	241	214
Hertfordshire	167	197	222	224	256	295	313	213	194	205	371	336

Home Office, United Kingdom, 1990—Area Tables", a copy of which is in the Library. Figures for earlier years are not available by regional health authority.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many drug-related convictions there were in each police area in England and Wales since 1979.

The information requested is given in the table.

Police force	1979	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990
Humberside	109	147	180	152	200	202	260	177	194	201	207	264
Kent	166	235	244	223	204	259	308	251	302	202	202	96
Lancashire	271	363	351	324	354	291	425	373	344	256	317	585
Leicestershire	253	249	225	55	164	178	211	224	178	199	183	192
Lincolnshire	62	72	65	58	82	42	51	46	77	77	116	186
Merseyside	247	269	237	276	434	586	1,059	724	725	845	1,078	1,399
Metropolitan Police (including City of London	4,315	5,608	6,033	7,485	8,469	7,925	6,678	5,341	4,476	5,810	6,672	6,329
Norfolk	195	263	156	114	197	153	176	202	162	217	272	391
Northamptonshire	87	117	105	68	73	66	77	89	67	52	58	105
Northumbria	179	122	203	169	134	159	221	169	183	175	223	289
North Yorkshire	84	86	122	135	125	165	162	145	162	67	94	109
Nottinghamshire	109	150	161	233	191	154	147	158	217	165	143	145
South Yorkshire	175	145	180	236	144	257	298	283	336	238	324	351
Staffordshire	59	93	65	56	66	160	220	116	114	156	180	235
Suffolk	146	242	200	188	196	155	157	160	211	195	272	244
Surrey	219	284	305	254	287	351	406	306	254	236	391	361
Sussex	489	516	578	521	631	519	458	364	506	431	731	860
Thames Valley	466	479	408	514	488	514	608	536	543	643	770	911
Warwickshire	64	83	78	127	74	88	86	82	82	120	131	171
West Mercia	166	263	187	152	230	233	156	354	224	285	266	376
West Midlands	234	288	393	452	612	702	663	508	469	771	823	1,148
West Yorkshire	327	347	362	432	607	361	395	552	573	608	596	942
Wiltshire	121	124	166	137	149	252	147	112	83	106	120	103
Total England	11,413	14,018	14,856	16,375	18,080	18,017	17,951	15,050	14,522	16,163	19,390	20,664
Wales
Dyfed-Powys	191	200	163	157	180	222	212	154	182	157	165	186
Gwent	103	124	111	152	101	132	134	125	114	131	118	144
North Wales	83	196	172	260	252	205	276	187	207	265	404	375
South Wales	228	278	319	418	575	736	597	419	532	586	657	578
Total Wales	605	798	765	987	1,108	1,295	1,219	885	1,035	1,139	1.314	1,283
¹ Excludes offenders prosecuted for offences dealt with by HM Customs and Excise, British Transport Police, British Airports Authority and Port of London Authority (England) and all those cautioned or dealt with by compounding for drugs offences.

Volume 205: debated on Thursday 12 March 1992