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Written question asked by Jamie Reed (Labour) on Wednesday, 28 January 2009, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 2 February 2009. It was answered by Alan Campbell (Labour) on Monday, 23 February 2009 on behalf of the Home Office.

Cannabis: Cumbria

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what evidence her Department holds on the relationship between the use of cannabis and the level of criminal activity to fund such use within (a) Cumbria and (b) Copeland in the last five years.
Answer

The Department does not hold evidence on the relationship between use of cannabis and the level of criminal activity to fund such use within Cumbria and Copeland.Much of the research evidence on the links between acquisitive crime and drug use points to Class A or 'problem' drug use as having the strongest links and as such there is little evidence on the links between cannabis use and crime.Specific data on cannabis possession are only available from 2004-05 onwards. This is because prior to this, possession offences did not distinguish between cannabis and non-cannabis offences.The number of recorded offences for possession of cannabis for Copeland and Cumbria, for the period 2003-04 to 2007-08, are given in the following table.

Recorded offences of possession of controlled drugs (cannabis) for the Copeland Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership (CDRP) and Cumbria police force area, 2003-04 to 2007-08
Area 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08
Copeland CDRP 86 71 78 79
Cumbria PFA 729 659 603 675
Note:
Possession of controlled drugs offences were split with effect from April 2004 into (i) possession of cannabis and (ii) possession of drugs other than cannabis.
Source:
HO Crux-Matrix database

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
488 c139-40W; 253792
Session
2008-09
Subjects
Cannabis Cumbria Copeland
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk