Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the size of the international trade of illegal drugs and narcotics; and what steps the Government is taking to reduce such trade.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) conducts assessments on the size of the international trade in illegal drugs on behalf of UN Member States. Its most recent assessment – the 2015World Drug Report - was published on 26 June. It can be accessed at: www.unodc.org/wdr2015

The Government works closely with a wide range of international partners to tackle the international drugs trade. Our work - which involves the sharing of expertise and information and the provision of capacity building - is helping to disrupt the criminal networks involved in drug trafficking.