§ Mr. Hillasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what are the most recently available annual figures for drug abuse in Hampshire; and what are the comparative figures for the past five years.
§ Mr. MellorThe information available for Hampshire is given in the following table.
Information about offenders dealt with for offences involving controlled drugs and notified addicts is published annually in a Home Office Statistical Bulletin "Statistics of the Misue of Drugs in the United Kingdom", and in supplementary tables, the 1982 issue of which included a breakdown by police force area of narcotic drug addicts notified to the Home Office. The 1983 issue will be published in August.
Narcotic drug addicts notified to the Home Office, the number of addicts recorded as receiving notifiable drugs in treatment of their addiction at 31 December and the number of persons sentenced or cautioned for offences under drugs legislation and other offences where controlled drugs are involved. Hampshire 1977–1982 Number of persons Year New addicts notified during year Former addicts notified during year Addicts recorded at 31 December Persons sentenced or cautioned 1977 27 15 74 362 1978 23 12 71 445 1979 19 24 78 399 1980 26 21 77 347 1981 15 18 75 439 1982 32 23 94 292 1983* 53 28 125 † * Provisional. † Not available.