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In 2025/26, there were around 231,100 drug offences in England and Wales, compared with 205,800 in the previous year. For the period between 2002/03 and the most recent reporting year, drug offences in England and Wales peaked in 2008/09, when there were approximately 243,500 offences. Since the peak in 2008/09, the number of drug offences has declined, with 2017/18 having the fewest number of offences in this provided time period. 

Cannabis involved in highest number of seizures

In 2023/24, the police and border forces in England and Wales made 152,660 seizures of cannabis, the most of any drug. By comparison, the next-most common drug, Cocaine, was seized by the police just 21,548 times. While the current government has no plans to legalize cannabis, approximately 28 percent of UK citizens surveyed in 2025 thought that the drug should be legal, with a further 27 percent supporting its decriminalization. Recent surveys also indicate that almost one in three people in England and Wales had used Cannabis at some point in their lives, despite it being illegal.

Regional drug crime

When broken down by individual police force areas, Merseyside Police, who cover the city of Liverpool, had the highest drug crime rate in England and Wales, at 8.6 offences per 1,000 population. For the whole of England and Wales, the drug crime rate per 1,000 people was 3.4, and was lowest in Dorset, where it was just 1.5. In terms of drug seizures, Cleveland  was the police force area with the highest drug seizure rate in England and Wales in 2023/24 at 7,053 seizures per million people. By contrast, the Thames Valley Police only had 242 seizures per million people in the same year.