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Cocaine is the top drug seized in Britain outside cannabis, new figures show

Figures have revealed Britain’s top drug seized more than any other substances apart from cannabis.

Police seized three tonnes of cocaine (3,360kg) last financial year, figures reveal – enough for 67million lines and twice as much as the 1,680kg removed from the streets the year prior. The statistics, shared by the Home Office, don’t include the amount seized by Border Forces, however.

Some 15 tonnes (15,219kg) of the drug were further seized by authorities intercepting gangs trying to smuggle it into the UK between April 2022 and March 2023. This was down from 17 tonnes the year before.

While the quantities of drugs seized don’t always reflect the amount of drugs being taken, they give a good indication of their popularity. The data is broken down by UK regions, with the two biggest cities London and Birmingham seeing more cocaine taken than any other drug.

However, this wasn’t the case for everywhere in the country. Benzodiazepines or ‘benzos’ such as Valium were the most seized drug in Greater Manchester, while Derbyshire and Merseyside Police took more heroin than any other substance.

Amphetamines were the most ‘popular’ type of drug seen by officers on the streets of Warwickshire and Gwent, South Wales, while Ketamine came out top in Norfolk and Oxfordshire. Cocaine is currently ranked as a Class A drug along with ecstasy (MDMA), heroin, LSD, magic mushrooms, methadone, and methamphetamine (crystal meth).

This means that anyone caught in possession or dealing in these drugs faces a much higher prison sentence than Class B drugs like cannabis. Over the same time period nearly a tonne of heroin was seized by police and Border Force officers, roughly equivalent to nearly 10 million doses.

Cannabis, which is ranked as Class B, is the most popular illegal drug overall. A total of 23 tonnes of herbal cannabis, half a tonne of cannabis resin and over half a million cannabis plants were seized by police in 2022/23.

A further 47 tonnes of herbal cannabis, nearly a tonne of cannabis resin and 314 cannabis plants were seized by Border Force. Cocaine is the second most popular illegal drug overall in the country, behind cannabis, but in some areas second place is taken by other drugs such as heroin, amphetamines or ketamine.