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4 Dec 2007 : Column 1106W—continued
Drug Seizures
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many seizures of (a) methamphetamine, (b) cannabis, (c) cocaine and (d) heroin were made by police forces in England and Wales in each year since 1997; and what the total quantity of each substance was seized. [166842]
Mr. Coaker: Available data for each year between 1997 and 2005 have been published in area tables of the annual ‘Seizures of Drugs in England and Wales’ series and are shown in the following tables. Seizures of methamphetamine cannot be separately identified from the total for amphetamines.
Drugs are seized in a variety of forms but in table 2 quantities are shown as weights (kg), apart from quantity of cannabis plants which is shown as number of plants.
Conversion factors are applied to estimate the overall quantity for each drug. From 2005 these conversion factors have been revised and quantities data for 2005 are not directly comparable to those for previous years.
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 generated by police forces and other agencies. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.
| Table 1: Number of seizures( 1) of controlled drugs by selected drug type: England and Wales 1997 to 2005 | |||||||||
| Drug type | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 |
| (1) As a seizure can involve more than one drug, figures for individual drugs cannot be added together to produce totals. (2) Methamphetamine seizures cannot be separately identified from total number of amphetamine seizures. (3) With effect from 1 April 2004 the Home Office issued guidance that gave an additional disposal option of a formal warning for cannabis possession. The widespread and growing use of this new disposal is thought to have been a likely contributory factor in the increase in the number of police seizures for cannabis in 2005. (4) As a seizure can involve more than one form of cannabis, the ‘cannabis total’ figure is not the sum of its different forms. | |||||||||
| Table: Quantity( 1,)( )( 2) of controlled drugs seized by selected drug type: England and Wales 1997 to 2005 | |||||||||
| Drug type | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 |
| n/a = not applicable (1) All quantities are in kilograms except for ecstasy-type (doses) and cannabis plants (numbers). (2) Drugs are seized in a variety of forms but, where possible, amounts have been converted to weights (kg) and, for cannabis plants, number of plants. Conversion factors have been revised for 2005 data. 2005 quantity data should not be directly compared to those for previous years. (3) Quantity of methamphetamine cannot be separately identified from total amount of amphetamines seized. (4) It is not possible to combine cannabis weights (kg) and amount (plants) to give a ‘cannabis total quantity' | |||||||||
Drugs: Telephone Services
Dr. Iddon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will give a breakdown of callers to the FRANK helpline by category of relevant drug in the latest period for which figures are available. [168907]
Dawn Primarolo: I have been asked to reply.
Data for the breakdown of calls to the FRANK Helpline by category of relevant drug taken from call dates between 1 April 2007 to 1 November 2007, are outlined in the following table:
| Description | Count | Percentage |
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