Louth sees large fall in recorded drug offences

There was a 27% drop in the number of controlled drug offences recorded in the Louth Garda Division in the 12 months to June 2022, compared to the previous 12 months, according to figures released this week by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

In the 12 months to June 2022, 634 controlled drug offences were recorded in the Louth Division. This compares to 870 for the previous 12 months, a reduction of 236. Controlled drug offences include: importation of drugs; cultivation or manufacture of drugs; possession of drugs for sale or supply; possession of drugs for personal use; and other drug offences.

Of the various types of controlled drug offences, possession of drugs for personal use was the most prevalent offence recorded in Louth. In the year to June 2022, 464 were recorded, down from 640 in the previous year, a fall of 27.5%. In the second quarter of this year, 94 possession of drugs for personal use offences were recorded, down from the 335 recorded in the first six months of 2021 and also down on the 254 recorded in the last six months of last year.

Possession of drugs for sale or supply also saw a large fall in the Louth Garda Division, with 141 offences recorded in the 12 months to June 2022, compared with 187 the previous year, a fall of 24.6%.  Cultivation or manufacture of drugs offences fell from 19 in the 12 months to June 2021, to five in the 12 months to June 2022, and there was just one importation of drugs offences recorded, compared to two the previous 12 months.

The only type of controlled drug offence that saw an increase in the 12 months to June 2022, was " Other drug offences", which increased from 22 in the year to June 2021, to 23 in the year to June 2022.

Recorded Crime statistics continue to be categorised by the CSO as Statistics Under Reservation. This categorisation indicates that the quality of these statistics do not meet the standards required of official statistics published by the CSO. For more information on this see https://www.cso.ie/en/methods/crime/statisticsunderreservationfaqs/.