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Home Office;Prison Service

Answer

Mr. Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 13 November, Official Report, column 233, if he will list the number of multiple drug positives from a single sample for each category of drug. [6270] Miss Widdecombe: Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given. Letter from Richard Tilt to Mr. George Howarth, dated 29 November 1996: The Home Secretary has asked me, in the absence of the Director General from the office, to reply to your recent Question about the number of multiple drug positives from a single sample for each category of drug. The attached table shows the numbers of samples that were positive for each combination of drug groups between January and September this year. Prior to January statistics were provided in a different format which did not indicate to which drug types a multiple positive result related. Data for January and February is incomplete because of a phased transition from two laboratories which provided data in the old format to the Laboratory of the Government Chemist which provides the detailed data on individual samples necessary to produce this table. Mandatory drug testing system Multi drug combinations report Total samples tested 51,546 Period from 1 January 1996 to 30 September 1996 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Drug group Amphetamine Barbiturate Benzodiazep Cannabis Cocaine LSD Methadone Opiates s s ines Amphetamines -- -- 12 59 2 -- 1 20 Barbiturates -- -- 4 3 -- -- -- 3 Benzodiazepines 12 4 -- 603 12 -- 60 403 Cannabis 59 3 603 -- 85 2 90 1,744 Cocaine 2 -- 12 85 -- -- 5 57 LSD -- -- -- 2 -- -- -- -- Methadone 1 -- 60 90 5 -- -- 99 Opiates 20 3 403 1,744 57 -- 99 -- _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Report for all areas, all establishments and all categories. Sample type: All groups. Ethnic Group: All groups. Sex: All.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

6270; 286 c452-4W;286 c450-2W

Session

1996-97

Subjects

Drugs Prisoners Prisons Misuse Testing

Contains statistics

Yes