1. Number of seizures of controlled drugs by the police

Statistics on seizures of controlled drugs are collected by the Home Office. These cover seizures by the police, by officials of HM Customs and Excise and other bodies. The statistics presented below relate only to seizures made by Scottish police forces ¹ .

Indicator

Scottish police forces made a total of 16,393 drug seizures in 1997, compared with 13,853 in 1996 and 12,660 in 1995, Figure 4.1. This represents an increase of 3,733 (or 29.5%) between 1995 and 1997. Statistics for 1998 are still to be published.

Figure 4.1 : Number of seizures of controlled drugs by Scottish police forces

Background

In 1997, as in previous years, the vast majority of reported seizures (87.0%) involved class B drugs, alone or with class A or C drugs. Over three-quarters of all seizures (78.4%) involved cannabis. Heroin was involved in 10.8% of all drug seizures.

Notes

Changes in drugs seizures do not necessarily imply similar changes in the prevalence of the misuse of controlled drugs. Drug misuse is a largely clandestine activity and the numbers of seizures are affected by both changes in the amount, direction and effectiveness of enforcement effort and by changes in recording procedures.