Police let half of all class A drug users walk free.
Possession of hard drugs such as cocaine and heroin treated as a health issue rather than a criminal matter by UK forces.
Some 48.1 per cent of people caught in possession of hard drugs, such as cocaine and heroin, were let off without any criminal sanction, Home Office data analysed by The Telegraph reveals.
It represents a six-fold increase in drug users escaping prosecution since 2016, when the proportion was only 7.5 per cent.
In some forces, more than 80 per cent caught with cocaine, heroin or other class A drugs escaped any criminal punishment.
They were instead handed community resolutions, which do not result in a criminal record and only require an offender to accept “responsibility” for their crime, or were let off “in the public interest”.
Only a third of class A drug possession offences resulted in a charge. DT.
