Cannabis possession offences drop by a third in four years

Senior police officers said the main reasons for the decline in those caught with the drug are shrinking budgets and reduced use of stop and search

Significant falls in cannabis offences were recorded across urban and rural police forces Photo: PA

By Elizabeth Roberts

Cannabis possession offences have fallen by almost a third since 2011 with leading police officers claiming they cannot afford to spend time dealing with users.

The number of offences recorded in England and Wales - including penalty notices, cautions, charges and summons – plummeted from 145,400 in 2011-12 to 101,905 in 2014-15.

The figures, obtained under freedom of information laws, showed significant falls in cannabis offences recorded across urban and rural police forces.

Senior police officers claimed the main reasons for the decline were shrinking budgets and reduced use of stop and search powers.

Theresa May, the Home Secretary, restricted use of stop and search last year after suggesting it had become an "unacceptable affront to justice".

 

The Metropolitan Police, Britain's largest force, recorded 40 per cent fewer cannabis possession offences in 2014-15 than it did four years earlier. 

 

Merseyside saw the biggest fall with offences reducing by almost two thirds between April and July 2010 and the same period this year. 

Police are not stopping and searching as many people as before, following orders from Theresa May  Photo: Getty Images

Temporary assistant chief constable Bill Jephson, lead on cannabis for the National Police Chiefs’ Council, said: “The police are having to manage demand with decreasing resources and this requires tough decisions on priorities."

He added that possession of marijuana had never been “treated as a top priority” by police who preferred to concentrate resources on serious criminals involved in the supply chain.

A new focus on “making the best use of stop and search” was likely to have resulted in fewer offences of simple possession being discovered, added the senior officer.

More than six percent of adults in England and Wales use cannabis according to a crime survey carried out earlier this year.

In February, a major new study concluded that one in four new cases of psychotic conditions such as schizophrenia could be the direct result of smoking skunk, an extra strong variety of the drug.

Last October, a Home Office report concluded that decriminalising drugs would not lead to an increase in the number of people abusing illegal substances.

Last week a cross-party group of MPs called for the liberalisation of cannabis laws during a Westminster Hall debate in parliament.