December 15, 2025 | Incident and Crime Statistics , Alcohol and Drugs
Request Number: FOI/16309
Category: Incident and Crime Statistics - Alcohol and Drugs
Subject: Possession of Drugs
Request and Answer:
Your request for information has now been considered. In respect of Section 1(1)(a) of the Act we can confirm that the Police Service of Northern Ireland does hold information to which your request relates. The decision has been taken to disclose the following.
Question 1
Please detail the number of cautions issued for the possession of (i) class C (ii) class B (iii) class A drugs in each year.
Starting from the earliest year this information is available up to the present.
Please provide the numbers for each class separately, along with the total number of all cautions, including all classes.
Answer 1
Please see below table.
| Year | Class A | Class B | Class C | Yearly Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 9 | 126 | 13 | 148 |
| 2010 | 75 | 1018 | 76 | 1169 |
| 2011 | 81 | 1044 | 54 | 1179 |
| 2012 | 84 | 1238 | 81 | 1403 |
| 2013 | 70 | 1159 | 68 | 1297 |
| 2014 | 101 | 1081 | 62 | 1244 |
| 2015 | 124 | 1130 | 90 | 1344 |
| 2016 | 99 | 1035 | 69 | 1203 |
| 2017 | 136 | 805 | 81 | 1022 |
| 2018 | 175 | 807 | 67 | 1049 |
| 2019 | 126 | 742 | 99 | 967 |
| 2020 | 113 | 642 | 82 | 837 |
| 2021 | 108 | 629 | 128 | 865 |
| 2022 | 134 | 638 | 130 | 802 |
| 2023 | 147 | 686 | 167 | 1000 |
| 2024 | 156 | 505 | 198 | 859 |
| 2025 | 119 | 401 | 135 | 655 |
| Total | 1857 | 13686 | 1600 | 17043 |
Question 2
Please detail the number of incidents of possession of (i) class C (ii) class B (iii) class A drugs in each year, that were dealt with by Discretionary Disposals.
Please start from the earliest year this data is available up until the time period when they were replaced by Community Resolution Notices.
Please provide the numbers for each class separately, along with the total number of all Discretionary Disposals, including all classes.
Answer 2
Please see below table.
Please note that the below figures are based on the Reported Date rather than the Date of the Disposal.
| Year | Disposal | Class A | Class B | Class C | Yearly Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Discretionary disposal | 0 | 11 | 3 | 14 |
| 2011 | Discretionary disposal | 2 | 173 | 11 | 185 |
| 2012 | Discretionary disposal | 6 | 260 | 12 | 278 |
| 2013 | Discretionary disposal | 7 | 3212 | 14 | 336 |
| 2014 | Discretionary disposal | 9 | 455 | 21 | 485 |
| 2015 | Discretionary disposal | 20 | 763 | 32 | 815 |
| 2016 | Discretionary disposal | 2 | 222 | 6 | 230 |
| 2017 | Discretionary disposal | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 2018 | Discretionary disposal | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 2019 | Discretionary disposal | 2 | 4 | 1 | 7 |
| 2020 | Discretionary disposal | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 2021 | Discretionary disposal | 0 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| 2022 | Discretionary disposal | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 2023 | Discretionary disposal | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2024 | Discretionary disposal | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 2025 | Discretionary disposal | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Total | Discretionary disposal | 50 | 2226 | 102 | 2371 |