Crime and Supply Data

John Corkery, BA Hons, MSc, MPhil
Honorary Senior Research Fellow
Department of Mental Health - Addictive Behaviour
St George's Hospital Medical School
University of London

Overview

Although not currently one of the EMCDDA's key indicators, information on drug-related crime and drug availability or supply are important aspects of building up the picture of drug use in a country. In this presentation I will outline the range of data on drug seizures that can be collected - types of drugs and the form in which they are found, numbers and quantities, purity levels, and price. Data on 'reports' for drug law offences and how offenders are dealt with (for possible inclusion National Reports) will also be examined.

The generation of such data from law enforcement and administrative systems will be discussed, including sources such as the police, Customs and other agencies. Information from surveys or research studies (e.g. in prisons) will also be examined. The collection, collation, cleaning and analysis of these data will be examined. Methodological issues to be covered will include what is meant by 'seizure', 'criminal drug law reports', 'drug-related' versus 'drug' offences; respresentativeness of price data, and the measurement of average purity levels e.g. arithmetic mean versus weighted mean, mode, etc., together with the contents of tablets and drug use among prisoners.

I will present worked examples using data from various parts of the UK and other parts of Europe to illustrate the various points being made. Analysis will cover variables such as frequencies of numbers of seizures and amounts recovered, distribution by weight bands, changes over time, and geographical variations. I will relate these to the reporting needs outlined in existing EMCDDA guidance, e.g. Standard Tables and the use of checklists.

I am very grateful for comments and suggestions made on an earlier draft by Chlöe Carpentier.

Introduction

Although not currently one of the EMCDDA's key indicators, information on drug-related crime and drug availability or supply 'reports' for drug law offences are important aspects of building up the picture of drug use in a country.

There is a range of data on crime and supply data that can be collected
- Types of drug seized
- The form in which they are found
- Number of seizures
- Quantities seized
- Purity levels
- Price
- Contents of tablets sold as ecstasy, etc.
- Cultivation, processing, manufacture
- Trafficking routes and modes (origin/destination of drugs seized)
- Data on ''reports' for drug law offences
- Data on drug use among prisoners (possibly for National Reports)

Because there is no workshop as such for this topic, real examples of some of the points made will be given to enhance comprehension. These be will be mostly drawn from my own experience in the UK over the past 10 years or more.

Generation of data

If this has not already been undertaken, the first action required is to contact potential experts within your country to obtain information and document in a systematic way the data that may touch directly or indirectly on drug crime and supply issues - i.e. Information Map. This can then be continually updated.

Information on this process is contained in the following document. Such a document could include, e.g. sources and types of information, how they are generated and by whom, their regularity & timeliness, completeness of information, data quality issues, whether published or not.
http://www.emcdda.eu.int/situation/themes/crime_information_map.shtml

Law enforcement & administrative systems
- Police, Customs, other agencies - National Crime Squad, Forensic Science Service, National Criminal Intelligence Service, police services of the Armed Forces, special police forces e.g. railway, tunnels, ports, airports police, Armed Forces, prisons (for drug seizures), courts.

Information on access to drugs/perceived availability of drugs will come from surveys of the general population and other groups, and perhaps of 'key informants'

Information on drug use among prisoners and arrestees can also be obtained through surveys, but also through routine drug screening/testing

There are also information systems set up by health agencies that can provide useful data e.g. on contents of tablets or purity or price of drugs at street level. These can supplement or compliment information from law enforcement agencies.

Data collection, collation and cleaning

- The Standard Tables provide guidance on the minimum data items that need to be collected.
- If there are many sources of information, e.g. many police forces, there can be problems in getting the data in all at the same time
- It is best to aim for direct electronic data submission
- Data items should be for individual events - seizures, 'reports' for drug law offences, court appearances, etc. to allow for detailed analysis rather than summary data which limits the types and level(s) of analysis. For example, information submitted by agencies as summary tables will not allow regression analysis.
- Data should be validated before submission rather than on entry or after entry to the database; this will save much time by the centre responsible for collating and analysing the data. This could be done by centrally providing software with in-built validation routines that has to be used by all data suppliers. However, if this is not possible (in the UK there are more than 50 independent police forces that can use whatever IT systems they want), then specifications should be drawn up and disseminated so that data is submitted in a standard way.
- Data formats should ideally be the same from all agencies, especially on drug seizures. In the latter context, regard should be had to the EU decision on drug seizure harmonisation (see Further Resources below).
- Standardisation will facilitate streamlining and having to maintain several different databases and sets of analysis programs.
- Specific protocols should be drawn up and followed for cleaning data from each particular type of source. The same general principles should apply to both seizures and 'arrest' information.
- Ideally, each seizure should be allocated a specific and unique reference and be entered onto a database shared by all agencies making seizures. There should be protocols drawn up, if not already in place, so that a seizure is only claimed once by a single agency or in the case of joint operations. These measures will prevent double-counting of seizure numbers and quantities.
- Aim for data collection with records on a one-to-one relationship basis rather than a many-to-many basis. Do not use the UK Customs approach where all the suspects and all the drugs confiscated in a seizure event are recorded - but not the drugs associated with each suspect. This means that some analysts have massively over inflated the quantities of drugs seized by counting all the drugs for all individuals in a seizure event.
- Rather than count each 'exhibit' as a drug seized, the total amount for each drug-type and preparation type confiscated during a seizure event should be recorded, otherwise double-counting of drugs seized can occur - but not the amounts confiscated.
- Price data should be collected in a systematic way by law enforcement agencies to enable proper comparisons to be made between and within areas. The data should be recorded in an appropriate database, probably within a forensic science agency.
- The data fields should include: source of information, method of collection, location, amount seized, purities, constituents/contents, price, etc. Having this information will permit (a) proper analyses to be conducted, e.g. not only arithmetic means and ranges but also standard deviations, etc. at different distribution levels; (b) analysis of the relationship between purity and price.
- Attempts should be made to obtain information from all forensic science agencies that analyse drug seizures (including pills) so that as complete a picture as possible can be obtained.
- Data on prices may also be available through surveys of drug users, and pill contents from health (and other) agencies offering pill-testing facilities at entertainment/festival venues.

Data analysis

The source (agency), reason for collection and method of generation will determine the availability of data, how they can be used and analysed.

Analysis has to be undertaken with both the Standard Tables in mind and the writing of the National Report, and any domestic statistics that might be needed and/or published.

At a basic level, the minimum that should appear in the National Report will be based on the Standard Tables.

Types of analysis
The suggestions proposed here relate not only to the data supplied for the Standard Tables but also for National Reports.

Drug seizures (ST 13)
- Frequencies and percentages of seizure events and amounts recovered
By type of agency
By class and main drug types (e.g. UK Class A - heroin, cocaine, crack, ecstasy, methadone, LSD; Class B - amphetamines; Class C - cannabis, benzodiazepines, anabolic steroids)
By geographical area, e.g. police force/administrative area
Over time - last 5 or 10/11 years
- Distribution by weight/quantity bands (where items have been weighed)
Kg for weighed items e.g. heroin, cocaine, crack, methadone (converted from liquid), morphine, cannabis (herbal, resin, oil), amphetamine
Doses for LSD, ecstasy (and other tablets?)
Number of plants - cannabis
- Choose bands that make sense or relate to different distribution levels
- Changes over time
Percentage change in Year2 compared to Year1

Drug purities (ST 14)
- Average purity of seizures of powdered drugs, e.g. heroin, cocaine, crack, amphetamines - mean, weighted mean, mode for police and Customs confiscations. Give the sample sizes so that suitable statistical tests and interpretations can be made.
- Consider doing this for different distribution levels; it is also important to identify purities at street/retail level
- Information on cutting/bulking agents may provide information on sources of drugs and where they were processed, etc. - e.g. heroin profiling
- Other substances?
- Strength of cannabis
- Trends over time, statistical tests (difference between two proportions) to see if changes are significant
- Constituents of tablets e.g. ecstasy, percentage of MDMA, MDA, MDEA, etc.

Contents of tablets sold as ecstasy, etc (ST 15)
- Breakdown of contents found in the total number of tablets analysed: percentage in column should equal 100%; however this table should be reviewed soon as the number of options in line is not sufficient (it doesn't cover all situations)
- Average weight of MDMA in a tablets, as well as minimum and maximum weights found - always provide the sample size

Drug prices (ST 16)
- Average price and/or range for main drug types at different retail levels
- Consider whether to give for different cities/regions or just national ones
- Note that there can be great variation in price even within a neighbourhood, and between dealers and their clients depending on how well known they are known to each other.
- Consider doing this for different distribution levels; it is important to identify prices at street/retail level
- Always describe the method of collection to identify possible biases, and report the size of the sample that prices are based on.
- Relate to purity levels and availability, but realise that these relationships can change over time and may not comply with traditional demand/supply models of economics. It can therefore be difficult/impossible to definitive interpretation of trends.

Drug law offences (ST 11)
- Focus on criminal 'reports' for drug law offences; but if there are data available on offences of drug use/possession enforced through administrative sanction, they should be analysed in the same way as the criminal ones but separately. Examples include 'compounding' by UK Customs and 'fiscal' fines imposed by prosecutors in Scotland. These are financial penalties which do not result in the 'offender' receiving a criminal record, as they do not admit any guilt. It is similar to a parking ticket.
- Number and percentages of individuals dealt with for drug offences or number and percentages of drug law offences (this depends on the statistical unit) on individual occasions during a year, broken down in various ways and cross-tabulated:
- By main drug type
- Age and gender if individuals counted
- Specific drug offences
- Disposals/sanctions imposed (not required by the EMCDDA)
- By area, e.g. police force/administrative area
- Average length of prison sentences (not required by the EMCDDA)
- Average amount of fine/financial penalties imposed (not required by the EMCDDA)
- Changes over time, e.g. last 5 years, last 10/11 years; links with law enforcement strategies/policies, if any, or prosecution strategies
- Population in prison for drug offences (National Report)
- broken down by
    - Gender (nationality, ethnicity)
    - Offence including drug offences
    - Main drug type
    - Changes over time

Drug use among prisoners (ST 12)
- At reception into prison/within prison
- For different drugs identified separately and for all illicit drugs
- According to different definitions of drug use (Life time prevalence, last year prevalence, last month prevalence, IDU, regular DU, etc.)
- In different populations (males/females, adults/youths, on remand/convicted), etc.

Drug-related offending 'criminal law reports' data and research (National Report)
- If this information is collected routinely then most of the types of analysis listed in the previous section could be undertaken.
- If such data are not collected, consideration could be given to adding variables to existing data collection forms and/or databases to indicate that an offence is related to drugs in some way and the nature of that relationship.
- What is more likely to exist is information from surveys or research involving drug-using arrestees and/or offenders. This information can be beneficially used to gain an insight in the proportion of crime that is drug-related, and the types of offences which are committed to fund drug habits, which offences may be precipitated by being on drugs e.g. driving, violence. The disproportionate of effect of repeat offenders can be explored in this way.

Methodological issues

- Definitions should be clearly stated. Where there are differences between agencies in definitions these should be explained, and attempts should be made to use one definition across a country.
- The same is true for statistical units
- In the case of seizures, reference should be made to work of the Council of Europe on the harmonisation of precursor and drug seizure data collection, and analysis. e.g. 'seizure'.
- ''Reports' for drug law offences is a very broad term. In order to make international comparisons it is important to state at which stage of the criminal justice system the data are being collected e.g. informal action by police/Customs, arrest, prosecution, following court appearance
- 'Drug' offences - in many countries use/consumption of illicit drugs is not illegal, but possession is. This needs to be made clear. Other drug offences such as unlawful supply and import/export are clearer to define. There may be difficulties distinguishing between 'production' and 'cultivation' depends on how offences are recorded. The term 'drug-related crime' has been defined by the EMCDDA with a group of experts and Europol. Please see below the consensus definition of 'drug-related crime'.
1. Psychopharmacological crimes: crimes committed under the influence of a psychoactive substance
2. Economic compulsive crimes: crimes committed in order to obtain money (or drugs) to support a drug use
3. Systemic crimes: crimes committed within the functioning of illicit drug markets, as part of the business of illicit drug distribution and supply

4. Drug law offences: crimes committed against drug (and other related) legislation
- Some people may commit drug offences but not be users; conversely some may commit non-drug crimes because they are users. There is also a considerable degree of overlap.
- Definitions should remain stable over time.
- Where there is a change, e.g. new drugs coming under control or changes to the class that a particular drug belongs to, data should be presented both on the previous and new bases where possible to allow for the back and forward projection of trends
- Representativeness of price and purity data
- Source(s) of information and data collection methods should be stated so that any bias can be taken into account. For example, prices reported by police may not be representative because only certain officers may report prices. More robust data could come from systematic test purchases, or by asking dealers/purchasers when they are arrested what the going prices are. Further information could be obtained from surveys of users (e.g. at clubs, festivals).
- Measurement of average purity levels (at different levels including street, wholesale and import) e.g. arithmetic mean versus weighted mean, mode etc., including tests of significance

Data quality issues

Data sources - should be briefly described in the National Report, together with issues regarding definitions, completeness, timeliness of data submission, and any limitations.

If there are thought to be any problems with the quality of the data, these should be stated in simple terms, and contacts/references given for further information. Alternatively, technical notes can be included.

If it is thought that the data are not robust then this should be stated rather than using misleading information.

Interpretation

Statistics on drug seizures and 'reports' for drug law offences are not necessarily reflections of drug use or supply but of legal policies, interventions and particularly of law enforcement activities. Changes in any of these can affect not only the volumes reflected in the figures but also their composition. What these figures are useful for is showing trends over time. In conjunction with other indicators they can give a more complete picture. Research can help to fill in some of the gaps.
Seizures are used as an indirect indicator of supply and availability.
Data on price, purity and composition of tablets at street level, together with data on perceived availability or access from surveys are all used to try to get a picture of drug availability at user's level.
Data on drug use among prisoners are used to get a picture of drug use in a specific (and socially excluded) population - inmates.

Caveats should be given where results are based on small numbers. Always give the number of events/persons.

If there is the possibility of double-counting occurring for any of the reasons mentioned above (or any other reasons), this should be stated or guidance given as to whether this is likely to be an over-estimation or not.

The use of significance tests should be encouraged whenever and wherever possible. These can be included in National Reports, but probably omitted from publications aimed at a general readership. Such tests may not be possible to calculate from the information in Standard Tables alone. Additional data may need to be collected or may be available.

The links between stop & search and drug seizures and subsequent arrest/court appearances should be explained. We know that many seizures of drugs, especially of amphetamines and cannabis arise from stops and searches. Evidence indicates that, although only a minority of all stops and searches result in an arrest, they are relatively important in leading to arrests for drug use (see Home Office Research Study 155: PACE ten years on: a review of the research). Half of all drug offences coming to the notice of the police do so as a result of stops and searches (see Home Office Research Study 185: Entry into the criminal justice system: a survey of police arrests and their outcomes).

The time lag between drug seizures where there is a suspect and resulting police and/or court action should be explained, i.e. the seizure patterns in year1 may be reflected in the 'arrest' (particularly court disposal) figures in following year (Year2) or even later (Year3). If the seizure and offender/offence databases were linked this would be even easier to demonstrate.

(For National Reports) Are the sentence lengths recorded for drug offences or could they reflect sentences for other offences considered by the court at the same time? Are the courts 'rolling up' the offences as in Scotland where the sentence (s) are handed down for all the offences dealt with on that one court appearance? If an offender was also convicted of a more serious offence the sentence recorded will reflect the other offence rather than the drug offence. and thus distort the statistics.

Analysis of the contents of pills may lead to new substances being detected. This can act as part of an 'early warning system'.

It should be remembered that drug availability and/or price might be affected by production some time before hand. In the case of heroin, for example, it appears that about a year elapses between opium being harvested in Afghanistan and it hitting the streets of London as illicit heroin - the 'one-year later' model. However, stockpiling of large quantities of drugs in third countries can also affect availability.

The effects of law enforcement interventions and policies need to be borne in mind when undertaking interpretation of both short and long term trends.

The effects of a shortage of one drug may lead to increased use of other 'substitute' substances and thereby increasing demand and prices, lowering purities, etc of these other drugs - as was seen in Australia following the recent 'heroin drought'.

EMCDDA reporting requirements

National Reports

National Reports contain two chapters relating to Crime and Supply issues: Chapter 8 - Social correlates and consequences; Chapter 10 - Drug markets. These chapters have to be supplied by mid-October.

The National Report should, in addition to routine standardised data i.e. Standard Tables, also analyse non-routine and/or non-standardised data/information, provided by either non-standardised routine monitoring systems or through ad-hoc studies/surveys. This will mean some overlap with aspects of Chapter 2 (Drug use in the population).

Chapter 8

Chapter 8 is an overview or summary of a number of social correlates and consequences of drug use.

There are 2 particular sections that are of specific concern in the present context - drug-related crime and drug use in prison. I would also suggest that it is important to consider drug use amongst the offending population more generally, as it also ties in with drug-related crime.

Key topics

Drug offences - looks at 'criminal reports' for drug law offences, e.g. drug use, trafficking, production, cultivation, supply, possession, import/export etc.
Other drug-related crime looks at crime which
- is committed in order to fund drug habits e.g. property crimes, (illegal?) prostitution,
- to obtain drugs fraudulently, e.g. prescription offences
- committed whilst under the influence of drugs, e.g. driving, violence
- ? (sexual) assaults using drugs, e.g. the use of date rape drugs
- ? violence/homicide associated with disputes related to drugs, e.g. 'turf wars'

Drug use in prison
- Drug use amongst prison inmates
- Problem drug use amongst prison inmates
- For both: issues related to different definitions, different populations, drug use before/within prison
- Analysis of data from ST12 completed by further breakdowns (e.g. by gender or age) and/or related-data from other sources which were not used to fill in ST12.

Drug use amongst arrestees
- Drug use amongst those arrested by police
- Problem drug use amongst those arrested by police
- For both: issues related to different definitions, different populations, drug use before/within prison

Check list

For each of these key topics, it is necessary to cover:
- New developments and trends
- Analysis of the relationship between different indicators (including the Key Indicators)
The second and third elements may well be inter-related with some of the crimes outlined in the first element here.
- Analyses of trends in a wider context, e.g. political, legal, economic & social changes, demand & supply reduction activities, etc.
- Main results of new research projects and studies, meta-analysis, evaluation projects

Chapter 10

This chapter is an overview or summary on drug supply, drug markets and drug availability.

Key topics

Availability and Supply
- Availability of drugs (perceived availability/access in the population, and other indicators) amongst: (a) general population; (b) specific groups/places/settings; (c) problem drug users
- Availability should be analysed through a multi-indicator analysis: look at seizures, prices, purity, perceived availability/access, other data if any, in order to see if there is a trend in availability (increasing or decreasing availability) according to the different drugs
- Production, cultivation, sources of supply and trafficking patterns within country(s) as well as from and towards other countries
- Origin and destination of drugs seized can be an indicator of production countries and trafficking routes/patterns; should distinguish between origin as where it was produced and origin as from which country it has been transported before being seized.

Seizures
- Quantities of seizures
- Number of drug seizures

Price & Purity
- Price of drugs at street level
- Purity at street level
- Composition of tablets/drugs

Check list

The following should be included:
- New developments and trends regarding each of the key topics
- Analyses of the relationship between these indicators and those in other chapters
- Analyses of trends in a wider context, e.g. political, legal, economic & social changes, demand & supply reduction activities, etc.
- Main results of new research projects and studies (?and meta-analysis, evaluation projects)

Standard Tables

There are 6 Standard Tables relating to Crime and Supply issues.
ST 11 Reports for drug law offences
ST 12 Drug use among prisoners
ST 13 Quantity and number of seizures of illicit drugs
ST 14 Purity at street level (retail level) of illicit drugs
ST 15 Composition of tablets sold as illicit drugs (ecstasy, etc.)
ST 16 Price in Euros at street level of illicit drugs
The Standard Tables are supposed to cover routinely collected standardised data.
These have to be submitted by the end of September.

Both the Standard Tables (ST) and the National Report should be consistent with each other and complementary.
The National Reports submitted should include, in an integrated way, both the analysis of the data provided in the Standard Tables and other non-routine information mentioned in the check list.

Formulation of questions & hypotheses

- Questions that are to be asked of the data should be based on the information collected.
- Questions should be oriented to describing the patterns of current drug phenomena and trends over time that are of concern to the EMCDDA and national governments.
- A key question might be:
- Is our country experiencing more problems with heroin?
- This could be turned into the following hypotheses
- Seizures - What amount of heroin was seized in 2003, and how does this compare with 2002?
- 'Reports' for drug law offences - How many people were suspected/arrested for importing heroin in 2003, and was this higher than in 2002?
- Price - Has the average street price of heroin fallen in the last year?
- Purity - Has the average (mean) street purity of heroin fallen in the last year?
- Availability - Do our general population/problem user surveys reveal that users find it easier to obtain heroin compared with the previous survey sweep?
- The answers to such questions can then be related to other indicators e.g. number of individuals seeking treatment for dependence on heroin, prevalence rates from surveys, etc.

Organisation of information

Possible structures for sections might be, for example, as follows:

Seizures
- Definitions
- What agencies make seizures of drugs and how they work together, their proportionate share in terms of seizure numbers and amounts confiscated
- Particular policies which may affect interdiction
- Overview of figures for year being reported on and comparison with previous year for main drugs of interest
- More detailed analysis for each main drug including numbers and quantities seized in current and previous years, geographical patterns, agencies. This could also include some background information on cultivation/production/sources of drugs and distribution
- Are any new substances or new preparations of existing drugs appearing?

However, this should be seen within the structure of the checklist in Chapter 10 i.e. it starts with availability, then production and trafficking, then seizures, and then price, purity and composition of tablets.

Drug law offences/offenders
- Definitions
- Particular policies which may affect interdiction
- Numbers of offenders and how they have been dealt with/disposals, including geographical patterns
- Age and gender of offenders - current figures and trend data
- Type of drug offence - current figures and trend data, including geographical patterns
- People under sentence in prison
- Financial penalties
- Main drug types - offences and disposals, and geographical patterns

Here too, this should be seen within the structure of the checklist in Chapter 8.

Errors made in presentation & terminology

Make sure that the unit of analysis is always given for tables and charts, and the level of counting, e.g., offender vs. offence; seizure (event) vs. drug seized within a seizure.

When giving amounts make clear the unit is given kg, dose/tablets, number of plants, and if liquids have been converted to weights, e.g. methadone mixture to dry powder equivalents.

Where seizures and/or 'arrest' figures are broken down by drug type make it clear whether the figures for individual drugs/ classes of drugs can be summed to produce totals and sub-totals or if to do so would mean double-counting some elements and artificially inflating numbers/quantities.

When using the term 'offender' may it clear whether the word is being used in a broad sense to cover those who are suspected of an offence as well as those who have been formally convicted by a court and those dealt with in other ways, or whether it has a narrow definition. Similarly, with the term 'drug law crime report' - does it just mean those individuals apprehended by law enforcement agencies, the number of apprehensions or does it refer to all events where an offence have been committed, or people have been dealt with for a suspected offence?

Make sure that drug names are correctly spelled, especially unusual ones.

Ideal presentation of data

Sentences should not be too long or complex.
Paragraphs should be kept short (possibly numbered for clarity)
Make use of bullet points or tirets
Try and standardise the layout of tables.
Try and keep at tables orientated in the same way e.g. portrait or landscape but not a mixture - unless in separate sections.
Detailed tables can be given in appendices and simplified ones, bringing out the main points, in the text.
Keep table numbering sequential, and try not to change the order from one year to another.
Keep text near to tables and charts that they refer to.
Do not use artificial precision e.g. too many decimal places

Graphics/charts should not be too 'busy' i.e. contain too much information/detail
Fonts should be simple and standardised, and large enough to read without artificial aids.
The type of chart/graph should chosen to suit the dimensions of the data to be explored e.g. two- or three-dimensional
Fills in graphs or tables should be chosen that can be easily seen and copied e.g. be distinguished when printed or reproduced in black and white
Maps can be used to demonstrate geographical variations/patterns
Rates per resident population facilitate easier comparisons between geographical units
Proportions and index numbers can be used to compare items measured in different ways e.g. units and of different volumes.

Additional check list

Are tables consistent with one another where they are counting items on the same basis?
Are all footnotes correctly numbered and been updated where appropriate
Are definitions clear?
Are technical notes needed? If so, where should they go?
Are sample sizes given?
Do table and chart titles accurately describe their contents?

Examples of tables, charts, maps, etc from my own UK publications to illustrate some of these points.

Drug offenders, United Kingdom, 1970-2000.⁽¹⁾

	1970	1980	1990	2000
Total offenders	8,412	17,158	44,922	104,390
Of which,
Unlawful possession	7,107	14,030	39,350	92,877
Trafficking(2)	594	2,496	6,680	14,928
Of which,
Immediate Custody	1,068	1,676	3,402	9,386
Fine	-	239	17,025	42,021
Compounding(3)	-	-	1,184	NA
Fiscal fine (Scotland only)	-	-	-	681
Of which,
Cannabis	7,480	14,912	40,194	75,985
Amphetamines	NA	827	2,330	6,637
Heroin	281	751	1,605	12,297
Cocaine	162	476	860	5,451
LSD	757	246	915	260
Ecstasy-type	NA	NA	286	6,630
(1) Data not yet available for 2001. (2) Unlawful production of drugs (exc. cannabis), unlawful supply, and possession with intent to supply unlawfully, unlawful import and export. Production of cannabis included from 1995. (3) Financial penalty imposed by H. M. Customs & Excise in lieu of prosecution. Typically used for unlawful importation of small amounts of drugs for personal use.

Future plans

The EMCDDA will be organising a 3 day-meeting on 13-15 October with experts from all the EU and Norway (26 countries) about these 6 ST. It will be mainly a training meeting about methodological problems and how to fill in these tables, but they will also review them and improve them in the light of problems experienced by the EMCDDA in analysing them and by the participants in filling them) in the last 6 years. This is the first time such a meeting on the issues of crime and supply will be organised. All the NFPs will be contacted to nominate an expert to attend this meeting.

Further resources and examples

Drug Seizure and Offender Statistics, UK 2000 - main report
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs2/hosb402.pdf
Drug Seizure and Offender Statistics, UK 2000 - area tables
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs2/hosb402area.pdf
Drug Seizure and Offender Statistics, UK 2000 - supplementary tables
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs2/hosb402supp.pdf

Review of UK drug seizure and offender statistics
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs2/nsqr29_drugs.pdf

Council of the European Union Article 36 Committee - Council recommendations on the alignment of law enforcement drug and diverted precursors seizures statistics. 12411/1/01 STUP 26. 30th October 2001 http://register.consilium.eu.int/utfregister/frames/introshfsEN.htm

EMCDDA outputs - Annual Report and associated Data Library
*Annual Report 2003 in the EU
http://annualreport.emcdda.eu.int/en/page109-en.html
*Annual Report 2003 in the Acceding and Candidate Countries
http://candidates.emcdda.eu.int/download/candidates_ar2003-en.pdf
*Data Library on Drug-related crime
http://annualreport.emcdda.eu.int/en/page091-en.html
*Data Library on Drug markets and availability
http://annualreport.emcdda.eu.int/en/page092-en.html

Main message

There are 6 Standard Tables and 2 chapters in the National Reports related to crime and supply issues: they should be consistent, this is very important; but also National Reports should include an analysis of the data from the Standard Table completed by data (standardised or not) from non-routine surveys or information systems - drug-related crime is a good example as only data on drug law offences are routine ones, whereas all other types of data e.g. on crimes committed by drug users are coming from non-routine information systems.

The End