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Cannabis

Answer

[holding answer 27 March 2007]: Available information relates to persons in England and Wales dealt with under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 of unlawfully possessing cannabis between 2000 and 2004. Figures are in the following table.Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts, police forces and other agencies. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.

Number of persons (a) aged under 18 and (b) aged 18 and over cautioned or found guilty of unlawfully possessing cannabis: England and Wales, 2000 to 2004
	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
(a) Persons aged under 18:
Reprimands	¹7213	¹7,878	¹8,869	¹6,220	¹4,769
Warnings	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—
Found guilty	3,764	4,383	4,997	5,367	4,111
(b) Persons aged 18 and over:
Cautions	26,512	24,762	28,941	29,209	15,214
Formal warnings	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	²27,520 20
Found guilty	28,528	27,903	31,234	33,995	18,850
¹ Separate figures for reprimands and warnings, which replaced cautions for persons aged under 18 in selected areas of England and Wales on 30 September 1998, are not available for 2000 to 2002.
² Formal warnings data for cannabis possession have been available since April 2004. Those aged 18 and over who are caught in simple possession of cannabis can be eligible for a police formal warning which would not involve an arrest. Police issued 27,520 formal warnings between April and December 2004.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

130355; 458 c1624W

Session

2006-07

Subjects

Cannabis

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk