Drug seizures and Offender Characteristics, 2018-2019 and 2019-20

Key Points

• The quantity of drugs seized can fluctuate considerably each year and does not necessarily move in line with the number of seizures made. Whilst most drug seizures consist of relatively small quantities (usually possession-related crimes), annual quantities of drugs seized can be greatly influenced by a small number of large seizures (usually from supply-related crimes).
• For crimes of drug supply, the main Class A drugs seized by Police Scotland in 2019-20 were heroin (223 kilograms) and cocaine (131 kilograms). Police Scotland also seized approximately 28,800 ecstasy-type tablets.
• Again for crimes of drug supply, the main Class B drugs seized by Police Scotland in 2019-20 were herbal cannabis (921 kilograms), cannabis resin (649 kilograms) and amphetamines (143 kilograms). They also seized more than 33,000 cannabis plants.
• For Class C drugs, the main drugs seized were 4.9 million benzodiazepine tablets (the vast majority of which were etizolam).
• A sample of drug possession crime for 2019-20 estimated that 49% of drug possession crimes involved herbal cannabis or cannabis resin, with 14% for etizolam, 9% for cocaine and 8% for heroin.
• In 2019-20, the vast majority of drug possession offenders were male (85%). The median age of an offender was 29 years old, with almost two thirds (63%) being between 20 and 39 years old.