Drug seizure rate sees massive rise

THE amount of cannabis seized in Cheshire has soared according to Home Office data obtained by the Weekly News.

Police in the county found 1,125 cannabis plants in 2016-17, the equivalent of finding one every seven hours and 47 minutes and a sixfold increase from 2015-16 when 174 were seized.

At the same time, the amount of cannabis resin seized tripled in a year from 1.2kg in 2015-16 to 3.8kg in 2016-17.

Across England and Wales, police found 5,516kg of cocaine in 2016-17, the equivalent to finding a gram every six seconds.

This amount has risen 31% from 4,228kg seized in 2015-16.

The cocaine found in 2016-17 was the biggest quantity seized in a year since 2003, according to the Home Office figures, with the tonnage rising steadily since 2009-10.

Most of the cocaine was seized by Border Force, 4,503kg in total, but police force seizures were the bigger driver in the increasing quantities of the drug found last year.

In 2016-17 the amount of cocaine seized in England and Wales by Border Force increased by 28% from 2015-16, from 3,530kg to 4,503kg, police seizures of the drug rose by 43%, from 710kg to 1,013kg.

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, three kilograms fewer than in 2015-16, and 783 kilograms of heroin seized, 3% down on 201516 when 806kg were seized, and a 38% decrease in 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 most seizures (95%) were made by police forces in England and Wales, Border Force seizures tended to be for larger quantities.

Border Force seized 96% of the discovered 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 30,493kg to 11,861kg.

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 27,132kg to 8,370kg.

At the same time, the quantity of herbal cannabis seized by police forces increased by 4% from 3,361kg in 2015-16 to 3,492kg in 2016-17.

Over the same time period, the quantity of cannabis resin seized decreased from 7,035kg in 2015-16 to 5,838kg 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 4.9m doses in 201516 to 5.2m in 2016-17.

The quantity of anabolic steroids seized in 2016-17 was the second highest since 2007-08, 16m 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 is found every 13 minutes.

A dose of ecstasy found every 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 is found every nine minutes. is

A dose of morphine is found every one hour and six minutes.

A gram of herbal cannabis is found every three seconds.

A gram of cannabis resin is found every five seconds.

A cannabis plant is found every one minute and 39 seconds.

A gram of amphetamines is found every 25 seconds.

A dose of anabolic steroids is found every six 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.