Drug Seizures by Scottish Police Forces, 2011-12

1. Introduction

This bulletin presents figures for drug seizures made by police forces in Scotland in 2011-12. Figures for 2010-11 are revised figures from the previously published bulletin. The statistics in this bulletin relate to drugs controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, which divides drugs into three classes, namely A, B and C. For the purpose of this bulletin, the drug classifications at the end of the reporting period, 31 March 2012, have been applied to the data. The publication contains data for 2010-11 and 2011-12 only.

Prior to the publication of the Drug Seizures by Scottish Police Forces, 2010-11 bulletin in April 2012, the previous bulletin Drug Seizures by Scottish Police Forces, 2005-06 and 2006-07 was published by the Scottish Government in June 2008 and contained data from 1996-97 to 2006-07. There was a break in the series between the publication of these two bulletins and as a result, there are no data available for the three year period 2007-08 to 2009-10. Additionally, due to the break in the series, the data for 2010-11 and 2011-12 are not directly comparable with the data for 1996-97 to 2006-07.

Chart 1: Number of drug seizures by Scottish police forces, by class of drug, 2010-11 and 2011-12