§ Mr. Murphyasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will publish the number of people (a) addicted to controlled drugs and (b) convicted of drugs offences and the numbers and weight of seizures of controlled drugs in each of the last five years in the Welwyn and Hatfield district and the county of Hertfordshire; and if he will compare those figures with the national figures for the same period.
§ Mr. Mellor[pursuant to his reply, 14 March 1984, c. 149.]: The available information about persons sentenced for drugs offences for Welwyn and Hatfield and the Hertfordshire police force area is given in table 1 as follows. Figures for the United Kingdom as a whole are given in table 7 of "Statistics of the Misuse of Drugs, United Kingdom, 1982", Home Office statistical bulletin 13/83.
Information about seizures of controlled drugs in the Hatfield and Welwyn area could be provided only at
124W
Table 2 Seizures* of controlled drugs in the Hertfordshire police force area by drug type 1981 1982 Number Quantity† (grammes) Number Quantity† (grammes) Class A drugs: Cocaine 4 1.0 — — Dextromoramide 1 0.4 — — Dipapanone 2 ‡— 2 0.1 Heroin 2 501.3 4 0.8 Methadone 8 0.5 4 0.3 Morphine 3 2.7 2 ‡— Opium 2 1.5 1 3.7 Pethidine 2 23.1 — — LSD 6 ‡— 8 ‡— Other class A drugs 2 0.4 — — Class B drugs: Cannabis 81 869.4 72 3,335.2 Cannabis plants 30 ║251 21 ║239 Cannabis resin 123 874.7 148 2,331.0 Cannabis liquid 2 2.7 2 13.6 Amphetamine 16 25.5 14 8.3 Dexamphatamine Levamphetamine Methylamphetamine 2 17.3 — — Other class B drugs 2 0.3 1 †— Class C drugs: Methaqualone — — — — Other class C drugs — — — — * As the same seizure can involve more than one drug type, rows cannot be added together to produce totals † Seizures of unspecified quantities are not included ‡ Less than 1/20 gramme ║| Number of plants seized disproportionate cost. The readily available information about seizures in the Hertfordshire police force area is given in table 2 as follows. Corresponding information for the United Kingdom is given in tables 1 and 2 of "Statistics of the Misuse of Drugs, United Kingdom, 1982". Statistics for 1983 are not yet available.
Table 1 Persons sentenced for drugs offences Number of persons Year Sentenced at Welwyn or Hatfield magistrates' courts or at the Crown Court after committal at one of these magistrates' courts Hertfordshire police force area 1978 32 140 1979 17 167 1980 33 197 1981 31 222 1982 27 224