Possession of Cannabis/Possession of Cannabis with Intent to Supply/Cannabis Grows 2016 to 2021

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Keywords

Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, Possession, Cannabis, Section 5(1), Intent, Supply, Section 5(3), Calendar, Fiscal, Years, Section 6, Individuals, Arrested, Cautioned, Charged, Prosecuted, Cultivation, Prohibited, Without, Holding, Valid, Licence, Granted, Home, Office, Grows, Discovered, 9, Nine, Less, Conviction, Data, Crown, Prosecution, Service, CPS, Posses, Class B, Class C, Drug, Seizures, Plant.

Publication Number

PUB 1277

FOI Reference Number

16165

Request Title

Possession of Cannabis & Misuse of Drugs

Date Range

2016 to 2021

Information Requested

This Freedom of Information request relates to the following offences set out in the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971:

i. Possession of Cannabis - s.5(1) of the Act; ii. Possession of Cannabis with intent to supply - s.5(3) of the Act.

1. For each of these two offences separately, please supply the following data broken down by each year a) 2017, b) 2018, c) 2019, d) 2020, e) 2021:

a) The total number of individuals arrested by your force

b) The total number of individuals cautioned by your force

c) The total number of individuals charged by your force

d) The total number of individuals prosecuted by your force.

2. This next question relates to Section 6 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 which states cultivation is prohibited without holding a valid licence granted by the Home Office.

i) How many cannabis grows have been discovered with 9 plants or less for the following years:

a) 2016

b) 2017

c) 2018

d) 2019

e) 2020

f) 2021?

Disclosure with Exemptions

Part Disclosure with Section 12(1) and Section 17(1) Exemptions.

Information Correct as at

20 October 2021

Date of Disclosure

22 October 2021

FOI 16165 Response

Having said that and in an effort to assist, although excess cost removes the force’s obligations under the FOIA, Essex Police have provided the below and attached in relation to your request

Caveats:

The data is correct as at 20 October 2021.

Dates: Calendar Year supplied unless otherwise stated. 2021 data is to the end of September. For the cannabis grows we have supplied Calendar Year as well as Fiscal Year given the data only runs to March 2021.

Our records do not show arrests for Possession of Cannabis specifically, therefore, a proxy of RFA Description = Drugs - Possess Class B or C and Drugs - Possession with Intent to Supply - Other Than Class A has been used.

Essex Police do not record conviction data on the Athena Custody system (this is held by the Crown Prosecution Service). To answer points 1 b, c and d, all secured outcomes have been displayed.

Cannabis grow information taken from Home Office ADR in Drug Seizures. Drug Code = 3000 (Cannabis Plant), Preparation = 3, Quality = <=9. Calendar Year and Fiscal Year supplied as data only runs to the end of March 2021.

Every effort is made to ensure that the data provided by Essex Police is accurate and complete. However, Essex Police systems are designed primarily for the management of individual cases and not for the purposes of providing data to answer specific FOI enquiries. Please note although data can be extracted from a number of sources via database queries, the results may be subject to inaccuracies. Care should be taken to understand our return when considering the interpretation or further use of the data.

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