Measuring the costs of drug misuse in the UK

A high proportion of individuals arrested for certain kinds of offences (including acquisitive crime such as theft and burglary) in the United Kingdom test positive for Class A drugs. Under the UK’s Drug Interventions Programme (DIP) persons arrested for certain kinds of ‘trigger offences’ can be required to be tested for the Class A drugs, heroin, cocaine and crack.

Evidence reported reveals that 38% of those arrested in 2006-07 for offences of theft tested positive for heroin and/or crack cocaine. This figure may be an under-estimate because some of those arrested for these offences were deemed unfit to be tested, in some cases at least because of having recently consumed large amounts of drugs and/or alcohol.