ONS · 5 July 2024present

Drug offences (police-recorded) during the Labour 2024– government

Year ending March 2024Year ending March 2026 · 2 periods

26.4%+48,231 offences

Drug offences (police-recorded) rose by 26.4% over the period, from 182,899 offences (Year ending March 2024, the level when the government took office) to 231,130 (Year ending March 2026, the latest available).

  1. Inherited level Year ending March 2024: 182,899
  2. Latest Year ending March 2026: 231,130
  3. method: latest complete period before start / before end

Changes during this period do not by themselves show what the government caused. Statistics reflect many influences, including earlier decisions, the economy and how the data is collected.

Drug offences (police-recorded): Year ending March 2003 to Year ending March 2026LabourLabourLabourLabourCoalitionCoalitionConservativeConservativeConservativeConservativeLabour0100k200k20052010201520202025Year ending March 2003: 143,320 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2004: 143,511 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2005: 145,837 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2006: 178,479 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2007: 194,233 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2008: 229,913 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2009: 243,536 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2010: 235,584 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2011: 232,922 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2012: 229,099 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2013: 208,003 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2014: 198,216 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2015: 170,689 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2016: 149,726 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2017: 139,223 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2018: 138,517 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2019: 154,382 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2020: 183,915 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2021: 211,154 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2022: 179,497 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2023: 179,871 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2024: 182,899 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2025: 205,800 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2026: 231,130 offences · published 23 July 2026

Published valueProvisional or revisedLatestShaded bands: governments (see labels)Hover or use arrow keys to read a value

Definition and caveats

Police-recorded drug possession and trafficking offences in England and Wales in a 12-month period.

Doesn’t measure: The level of drug use or supply; these offences are mostly found through police activity such as stop and search, so the figure reflects police effort as much as underlying activity.