Available information relates to seizures by the Metropolitan and City of London police forces between 1997 and 2004 and has been included in the area tables of annual Home Office drug seizure publications. Data for 2005 are expected to be published in the spring of 2007.
Skunk is the generic name for only one of a hundred or so varieties of cannabis plant; figures collected centrally cannot be broken down to show how many of the cannabis plant seizures involved skunk.
Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when the data are used.
Cannabis (herbal) Cannabis plants Cocaine Crack Heroin Ecstasy-type 1997 750 9,580 20 30 230 16,000 1998 660 8,170 30 20 120 199,000 1999 490 4,500 50 10 290 48,000 2000 430 4,080 90 10 290 293,000 2001 1,100 4,420 60 20 140 427,000 2002 1,390 4,870 50 10 180 105,000 2003 540 4,800 630 210 210 348,000 2004 310 13,310 400 40 180 80,000 Note:1. All quantities are in kilograms except for ecstasy-type (doses) and cannabis plants. 2. All figures have been rounded to nearest 10, except for ecstasy-type (thousand).
Information on drug finds, broken down by drug type, is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Information provided in the following table relates to aggregate expenditure for each major drug type in 2003-04. It was published in Home Office Online Report 16/06 “Measuring different aspects of problem drug use methodological development” available at: http:/www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs06/rdsolr1606.pdf.
Every effort has been made to ensure these estimates are accurate. However, the methods used to obtain them are complex and it should be recognised that there is a plus or minus range. These are shown as the error margins quoted in the table. These should not be regarded as precise statements of reliability and care should be taken to ensure that these limitations are taken into account when the data are used.
Expenditure (£ million) Error margin Cannabis 1,031 ±432.5 Amphetamines 312 ±81.9 Ecstasy 267.8 ±85.9 Powder cocaine 973.3 ±267.3 Crack 1,480.4 ±394.29 Heroin 1,206.7 ±227.65 Total 5,271.2 ±1,310 Note: The error margins quoted in the table are a very rough attempt to quantify the large range of uncertainty surrounding the estimates. They should not be regarded as precise statements of reliability.