Steroid seizures have soared in last 8 years
A DOSE of anabolic steroids is seized every 43 minutes in Leicestershire - and the amount found by police has soared to its highest level in eight years.
Police in the area found 12,357 doses of anabolic steroids in 2016/17, the equivalent of finding a dose every 43 minutes. The amount found has risen 1,511% from 767 doses seized in 2015/16.
This was the biggest quantity seized in a year since at least 2009/10, six times the previous highest amount seized, 2,137 doses in 2009/10.
As well as this, there has also been a big jump in the amount of ecstasy seized, with 2,050 doses found in 2016/17, up 1,078% from 174 doses in 2015/16.
Again, this was the biggest quantity seized since at least 2009/10 and is the equivalent of police finding a dose of the drug every four hours and 16 minutes on average.
The area has seen the number of cannabis plants seized rise more than eightfold in a year, from 2,670 found in 2015/16 to 22,712 in 2016/17, while the amount of amphetamines seized has increased fivefold, from 1,000 doses found in 2015/16, to 4,587 doses in 2016/17, or a dose found every one hour and 54 minutes on average.
Seizures of cocaine and heroin also rose in the area - 5.6kg of cocaine was found in 2016/17, a 181% rise from 2kg found in 2015/16, while the amount of her- oin found was up 252% from 2kg to 7kg.
The amount of crack seized is also at its highest level in eight years, with 1.1kg found in 2016/17, the equivalent of finding a dose every eight hours. This was a 12% increase from 1kg found in 2015/16.
Across England and Wales, police found 5,516kg of cocaine in 2016/17, the equivalent of finding a gram every six seconds. The amount found has risen 31% from 4,228kg seized in 2015/16.
This was the biggest quantity seized in a year since 2003, according to the figures from the Home Office, with the amounts found rising steadily since 2009/10 over the period.
Most of the quantity of cocaine was seized by Border Force, 4,503kg in total. However, seizures by police forces were the bigger driver in the increasing quantities of the drug found last year.
In 2016/17 the quantity of cocaine seized by Border Force increased by 28% from 2015/16 (from 3,530 kilograms to 4,503 kilograms), while the quantity of cocaine seized by police forces increased by 43% (from 710 kilograms to 1,013 kilograms).
Three-fifths, 61%, of seizures of cocaine were each under one gram in weight, with 3% weighing 500 grams or more.
There were 39 kilograms of crack seized in 2016/17, 3 kilograms less than in 2015/16, 783 kilograms of heroin seized, a 3% decrease on 2015/16 when 806 kilograms were seized, and a decrease of 38% in the quantity of ecstasy seized in 2016/17 compared with 2015/16, from 801,294 doses to 498,331 doses. Nearly two-thirds of ecstasy seizures were of less than 10 doses, and 29% were of a single dose or less.
While the majority of seizures (95%) were made by police forces in England and Wales, Border Force seizures tended to be for larger quantities.
In terms of quantity, Border Force seized 96% of anabolic steroids, 82% of cocaine, 76% of all cannabis resin, 71% of herbal cannabis, and 69% of heroin.
The total quantity of herbal cannabis seized in 2016/17 fell by 61% from the previous year, from 30,493 kilograms to 11,861 kilograms.
However, the quantity of herbal cannabis seized in 2015/16 was the largest since 2008/09, largely due to seizures made by Border Force.
Over the last year, the total quantity of herbal cannabis seized by Border Force decreased by 69%, from 27,132 kilograms to 8,370 kilograms. At the same time, the quantity of herbal cannabis seized by police forces increased by 4% from 3,361 kilograms in 2015/16 to 3,492 kilograms in 2016/17.
Over the same time period, the quantity of cannabis resin seized
decreased from 7,035 kilograms in 2015/16 to 5,838 kilograms in 2016/17 (down by 17%) and in 2016/17, there were 318,988 cannabis plants seized - a decrease of 19% since 2015/16 when 393,702 plants were seized. This is part of the downwards long term trend since 2009/10.
Total seizures of anabolic steroids increased from 4.9 million doses in 2015/16 to 5.2 million in 2016/17.
The quantity of anabolic steroids seized in 2016/17 was the second highest since 2007/08 (16 million doses were seized in 2014/15). Anabolic steroids seized by police forces decreased by 66% over the same period, from 545,121 doses in 2015/16 to 185,933 doses in 2016/17.
Across England and Wales (on average): A gram of cocaine is found every six seconds
A gram of crack every 13 minutes
A dose of ecstasy is found every 1 minute
A gram of heroin is found every 40 seconds
A dose of LSD is found every four hours and 56 minutes
A dose of methadone found every nine minutes
A dose of morphine is found every one hour and six minutes
A gram of herbal cannabis is found every 3 seconds
A gram of cannabis resin is found every 5 seconds
A cannabis plant is found every 1 minute and 39 seconds
A gram of amphetamines is found every 25 seconds
A dose of anabolic steroids is found every 6 seconds
A dose of benzodiazepines is found every 56 seconds
A gram of GHB is found every 53 minutes
A gram of ketamine is found every nine minutes is found is