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UK: UK illegal drugs market 'worth £6.6bn a year'

Ananova

Saturday 22 Sep 2001

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The UK drugs market per year is worth about the same as the market value of
Marks and Spencer or Sainsbury's, according to a new study.

Research carried out for the Home Office estimates the total street value
of illegal drugs sold in 1998 at £6.614 billion.

The heroin trade is worth £2.313 million and dealers gross £1.817 billion
from crack and £1.578 billion from cannabis.

The cocaine market is valued at £353 million, ecstasy £295 million and
amphetamines £258 million, the study says.

Estimates of the size of the drugs market were partly extrapolated from the
results of voluntary urine tests among people arrested for drug-related crimes.

Researchers also based their estimates on the 1998 British Crime Survey in
which people were asked about their drug-taking habits. Estimates were also
based on the results of mandatory drug tests in prisons.

Researchers said the estimate for the value of the cocaine market was
likely to be too low because regular users of the drug were less likely to
be arrested or in jail.

The overall estimate of £6.614 billion will have to be refined but will then
be used as a benchmark for monitoring the progress of Government anti-drugs
strategies.

Home Office minister Bob Ainsworth said: "This research is the first
attempt to establish a method which could be used to inform the setting of
a baseline for our challenging, long-term target of reducing availability
of Class A drugs.

"However, more work has yet to be done before we can confidently establish
this baseline."

 

 

 

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