The following table shows persons proceeded against for offences of the possession and supply etc. of cannabis, which was a Class B drug until January 2004 and a Class C drug thereafter.
Figures for 2006 will be published in mid-December.
Persons found not guilty3 Persons fined Persons sentenced to immediate custody Offence Statute Year Persons proceeded against Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage Possession of cannabis Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 sec 5(2) 1997 18,940 1,965 10.4 11,890 62.8 268 1.4 1998 24,395 2,167 8.9 15,503 63.5 410 1.7 1999 24,322 2,036 8.4 15,215 62.6 451 1.9 2000 22,304 1,922 8.6 13,638 61.1 361 1.6 2001 22,705 2,212 9.7 12,960 57.1 290 1.3 2002 25,976 2,527 9.7 14,123 54.4 241 0.9 2003 27,871 2,423 8.7 15,172 54.4 288 1.0 2004 14,646 1,459 10.0 6.972 47.6 161 1.1 2005 13,040 980 7.5 6,316 48.4 136 1.0 Dealing in cannabis (Possession of cannabis with intent to supply or offering to supply cannabis Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 secs 4(3) and 5(3) 1997 5,063 1,073 21.2 357 7.1 1,779 35.1 1998 5,053 1,215 24.0 399 7.9 1,940 38.4 1999 4,497 1.150 25.6 313 7.0 1,685 37.5 2000 3,195 869 27.2 231 7.2 1,213 38.0 2001 2,593 748 28.8 160 6.2 883 34.1 2002 2,545 652 25.6 154 '6.1 805 31.6 2003 2,790 691 24.8 144 5.2 697 25.0 2004 2,142 408 19.0 122 5.7 576 26.9 2005 2,176 306 14.1 87 4.0 407 18.7 1 Principal offence basis. 2 Cannabis was re-classified from a Class B to a Class C drug from 29 January 2004 and formal warnings for its possession introduced. 3 Includes proceedings discontinued, discharges under sec 6, charges withdrawn and charges dismissed at magistrates courts and not tried and acquitted at the Crown court. Note: These figures have been drawn from administrative data systems. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. Source: RDS-NOMS, Ministry of Justice.