Number of narcotics offences ups for 4rth year in row

The total number of narcotics offences grew for the fourth year in a row in 2017.

A total of 23,965 narcotics offences were recorded last year, which was more than eight per cent higher than during the previous year, according to the crimes report released by police recently.

The number of aggravated narcotics offences recorded was 1,004, which was 87 more than in 2016. The number of detected aggravated narcotics offences grew by almost 10 per cent.

The drugs have become more and more widely available through anonymous online marketplaces resulting increase of the offences.

The number of detected narcotics offences nevertheless suggests that drug use is increasing.

The police regard the relaxation of attitudes towards drug use among young people in particular as a worrying phenomenon. Considering the growing availability of narcotics through anonymous online networks, for example, this could create conditions for increasingly widespread and serious drug problems and an increase in associated offences committed by drug users (such as property crime).