You asked
Please provide data showing rate at which Tramadol has been found to have been provided illegally in each region of England from 1998-2018.
If this is not possible I would appreciate if data could be provided showing either illicit drug use in each region of England and the number convicted of providing illicit drugs in England between 1998 and 2018.
We said
Thank you for your Freedom of Information request.
The ONS Centre for Crime and Justice publishes statistics based primarily on two sources of data - the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) and police recorded crime.
The CSEW is a face-to-face victimisation survey in which people resident in households in England and Wales are asked about their experiences of a range of crimes in the 12 months prior to their interview. Police recorded crime data cover crimes reported to and recorded by the police.
The CSEW asks whether, over those 12 months, respondents have taken prescription-only painkillers that were not prescribed to them. It does not, however, differentiate between the type of painkiller used (e.g. tramadol, codeine, morphine) or say anything about how those drugs were obtained. Moreover, this question has only been asked from the year 2014/15 onwards.
Data from the CSEW pertaining to illicit drug use can be found in the appendix tables of our "Drug misuse in England & Wales: year ending March 2020" publication. Tables 3.02, 3.08 and 3.11 may be of most interest here, providing breakdowns of data by England, Wales, and regions of England.
Although we publish crime statistics from police recorded crime, note that these data are managed by the Home Office, not the ONS. So although we have not previously published recorded crime statistics pertaining to the illegal provision of tramadol, the Home Office will be better placed to comment on whether or not these data are available. The Home Office can be contacted here: CrimeandPoliceStats@homeoffice.gov.uk
Unfortunately, the ONS Centre for Crime and Justice does not hold any information relating to convictions. Convictions data in general are held by the Ministry of Justice who may be able to assist you further with this part of your request. The Ministry of Justice may be contacted here: ESD@justice.gov.uk
If you have any further crime-related enquiries, the ONS Centre for Crime and Justice can be contacted at the following e-mail address: CrimeStatistics@ons.gov.uk