Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many convictions there have been for (a) all drug possession offences and (b) possession of cannabis under sections 5(1) and (2) of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 in each year since 2011.

The Ministry of Justice has published information on convictions for all drug possession offences and possession of cannabis offences in England and Wales, up to December 2020, available in the ‘Outcomes by Offence’ data tool, which can be found here:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/987715/outcomes-by-offence-2020.xlsx

For convictions for possession of any drug under sections 5(1) and (2) of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, follow the steps below.

• Select the following in the Offence filter:

• ‘92D.01 Possession of a controlled drug – Class A’,

• ‘92D.02 Possession of a controlled drug – Class B (excluding cannabis)’,

• ‘92D.03 Possession of a controlled drug – Class C (excluding cannabis)’,

• ‘92D.04 Possession of a controlled drug – unknown class’,

• ‘92E.01 Possession of a controlled drug – Class B (cannabis)’ and

• ‘92E.02 Possession of a controlled drug – Class C (cannabis)’

• The number of convictions will be found on Row 24.

For convictions for possession of cannabis under sections 5(1) and (2) of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, follow the steps below.

• Select the following in the Offence filter:

• ‘92E.01 Possession of a controlled drug – Class B (cannabis)’ and

• ‘92E.02 Possession of a controlled drug – Class C (cannabis)’

• The number of convictions will be found on Row 24.