§ Mr. Altonasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what were the total number of charges brought for (a) possession, (b) dealing and (c) import of (i) class A drugs, (ii) class B drugs and (iii) class C drugs in the Metropolitan and Merseyside police districts in the last year for which figures are available.
§ Mr. MellorThe available information is given in the following table.
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Charges* brought and proceeded with at court in 1983 for unlawful supply, possession or unlawful importation of controlled drugs in the Metropolitan and Merseyside Police force areas Number of charges Class A drugs Class B drugs Class C drugs †All controlled drugs Metropolitan police district Unlawful supply 302 301 — 581 Possession with intent to supply unlawfully 253 508 9 606 Unlawful possession 1,717 8,753 29 9,569 Unlawful import 45 53 — 93 Merseyside Unlawful supply 24 51 — 53 Possession with intent to supply unlawfully 28 39 3 44 Unlawful possession 153 463 3 521 Unlawful import 4 3 — 6 * As one charge may involve more than one class of drug columns cannot be added together to produce totals. † Includes a small number of charges where details of the drug involved were not available.