Drugs

Mr. Lawrence
asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many persons have been convicted of unlawful possession of drugs in each of the past five years;(2) what has been the total quantity of (a) heroin and (b) cocaine seized by the authorities in each of the past five years;(3) how many seizures of controlled drugs have been made in each of the past five years.

Mr. Raison
The information requested was published in tables 3, 2 and 1 respectively of the Home Office statistical bulletin, issue No. 6/79, a copy of which has been placed in the Library of the House.

Mr. Lawrence
asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many registered addicts are currently receiving narcotic drugs from doctors; and how this figure compares with the number in each of the past five years.

Mr. Raison
There is no system of registration of addicts in the United Kingdom. There is, however, an obligation imposed on every doctor by the Misuse of Drugs (Notification of and Supply to Addicts) Regulations 1973 to notify the Chief Medical Officer at the Home Office of details of persons whom he considers, or has reasonable grounds to suspect, to be addicted to any one, or more, of 14 specified narcotic drugs. The number of narcotic drug addicts known to the Home Office at 31 December each year was published in tables 7 to 11 of Home Office statistical bulletin, Issue No. 6/79, a copy of which has been placed in the Library of the House.