Greater Manchester's child drugs crime shame

Thousands of child drug offences are recorded by police every year in England and Wales – but critics of drug prohibition warn giving a youngster a criminal record can negatively impact their future.

Ministry of Justice figures show 102 cautions or convictions were handed down to youngsters in Greater Manchester over drug crimes in 2020-21, with the punishments among 1,848 recorded since records began in 2013-14.

Since then, under-18s across England and Wales have been cautioned or convicted over drugs almost 48,000 times – punishments that could have life-long consequences, according to campaigners calling for reform.

It meant 10.3 per cent of all childhood offending in England and Wales was connected to drugs in 2020-21 – the highest proportion on record, despite a 58 per cent drop in youth-related crime since 2013-14.

Across Greater Manchester, drug crimes represented five per cent of the total 1,886 proven offences that resulted in a conviction or caution for children last year.

Steve Rolles, senior policy analyst at the Transform Drug Policy Foundation, said the figures were a “depressing reflection on the failure of UK drug policy” and added that nobody should be criminalised for personal drug use.

He said a prohibitionist approach had gifted the control of drug markets to organised criminals, adding: “Rather than protecting children, the war on drugs has put them in harm’s way, through criminalisation, more potent and risky drugs and through the exploitation of vulnerable youth within illegal drug supply networks and county lines.”

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