It's been a bumper month for interesting things about alcohol and other drug information that you may have missed. These slides include: estimates of the number of injecting drug users in English regions; the proportion of heroin related deaths by region; the mean number of heroin deaths by gender, age and region; custodial sentences for drug offences by number of previous convictions and class of drug; number of cannabis farms found by police in Northern Ireland; proportion of people found guilty of drug offences by ethnicity; the first offence of people found guilty of drug offences and who had at least 15 other convictions previously; the use of stop and search powers for drugs in Northern Ireland;

1. The estimated number of injecting drug users in
each region and each cross-classification of
gender and age
5120
Males 15-34 years Females 15 - 34 years Males 35 - 64 years Females 35 - 64 years
9030
14430
7350
13250
7230
8680
9480
17040
1680
2280
4630
2220
5560
2760
3550
2890
6530
3420
3460
16770
1680
12580
4660
5470
3580
6190
780
720
3570
390
3370
1290
1620
990
1590
EAST OF
ENGLAND
EAST
MIDLANDS
LONDON NORTH
EAST
NORTH
WEST
SOUTH EAST SOUTH
WEST
WEST
MIDLANDS
YORKSHIRE
AND
HUMBER
Source: Estimating prevalence of injecting drug users and associated heroin-related death rates in England by using regional data and incorporating
prior information - http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/rssa.12011/pdf

2. Where did heroin related deaths take place in
England between 2004 and 2007
8%
8%
8%
5%
16%
16%
10%
15%
14%
East of England
East Midlands
London
North East
North West
South East
South West
West Midlands
Yorkshire and Humber

3. Mean number of Heroin Related Deaths per year
of death for each region by using data from the
four calendar years 2004–2007
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
East of
England
East
Midlands
London North East North West South East South West West
Midlands
Yorkshire
and Humber
Males 15-34 years Females 15 - 34 years Males 35 - 64 years Females 35 - 64 years

4. Number of offenders sentenced to immediate custody for the
possession of (a) class A, (b) class B and (c) class C drugs
offence in England and Wales, 12 months ending March 2014,
by the number of previous convictions
2,500
2,000
1,500
1,000
500
0
Class A Class B Class C
More than 10 previous
convictions
Between six and 10
previous convictions
Between two and five
previous convictions
One previous conviction
No previous convictions
Figures are based on
counting the number
of occasions an
offender was
sentenced to
immediate custody
for the possession
of a class A, B, or C
drug offence in
England and Wales,
meaning an offender
can appear more
than once in the
totals in the year if
the offender was
sentenced to an
immediate custody
on multiple
occasions in the
year.
Source: http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2014-09-09.208713.h

5. Total number of incidents involving the seizure of
cannabis plants and classification as farms as
defined by ACPO in Northern Ireland
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
2012 - 13 2013 - 14 2014 - 15 to date
Total number of incidents classified as cannabis farms
Source: http://www.psni.police.uk/index/updates/updates_statistics/updates_drug_statistics.htm

6. Proportion of people found guilty at all courts of
indictable offences by offence group and ethnicity,
12 months ending March 2014
66.8
15.7
7.3
2.0
8.2
73.7
9.1
4.7
1.7
10.9
80.0
70.0
60.0
50.0
40.0
30.0
20.0
10.0
0.0
White Black Asian Other Unknown
Per cent
Drugs Total

7. The proportion of first offence categories and previous
offences for the 13,186 people found guilty of drug offences in
2013/14 who had been found guilty on at least 15 occasions
previously
5.2
0.5
0.7
0.9
2.0
1.0
1.4
0.6
2.5
44.6
8.9
5.4
2.1
6.2
1.8
18.8
1.5
0.0
3.1
0.2
31.3
2.8
13.3
1.8
9.1
1.2
17.8
5.4
0.2
9.9
0.0 5.0 10.0 15.0 20.0 25.0 30.0 35.0 40.0 45.0 50.0
Breach offences
Non England & Wales offences
Unknown offences
Summary motoring
Summary non motoring
Fraud offences
Miscellaneous crimes against society
Public order offences
Possession of weapons
Drug offences
Criminal damage and arson
Theft offences
Robbery
Sexual offences
Violence against the person
Previous offences First Offence

8. Stop and Search for drugs in Northern Ireland
and the number of arrests that result
5,000
4,500
4,000
3,500
3,000
2,500
2,000
1,500
1,000
500
0
Search Arrests
Apr-Jun 2013 Jul-Sep 2013 Oct-Dec 2013 Jan-Mar 2014 Apr-Jun 20143 Jul-Sep 2014
Source: http://www.psni.police.uk/quarter_2_2014-15_stop_and_search_report__internet_.pdf

9. Proportion of stop and search for drugs vs other
reasons in Northern Ireland – March 2013 to
September 2014
Drugs
54%
Other stop and
searches
46%

10. Northern Ireland Prison Receptions under
Sentence of Immediate Custody for Drug Offences
200
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
Men over 21 years Men under 21 years
Women over 21 years Women under 21 years
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
“Although the number of
receptions for immediate
custody prisoners rose
between 2012 and 2013 by
5%, this increase was not
replicated across all of the
individual offence categories.
Five out of the 13 offence
categories showed a decrease
in immediate custody
receptions…”
By contrast Drug Offences
31% rose by a third.