Ministry of Justice written question – answered at on 19 March 2025.
Bell Ribeiro-Addy
Labour, Clapham and Brixton Hill
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate her Department has made of the proportion of magistrates' court cases that involved cannabis possession in the last 12 months; and if she will make an estimate of the potential impact of legalising cannabis possession on the cost of these court cases.
Sarah Sackman
The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice
The latest published data shows that 1.0% of magistrates’ courts proceedings in the year to June 2024 (12,429 defendants) in England and Wales were for cannabis possession offences. (Source: Criminal Justice System statistics quarterly: June 2024 - GOV.UK). Equivalent published data for the calendar year 2024 will be available on 15 May 2025. The number of proceedings is presented on a principal offence basis, this means that more serious offences accompanied by an additional cannabis possession offence will not be included in this number.
The estimated sitting day cost to HMCTS for those cases is c. £1 million.
Yes1 person thinks so
No2 people think not
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