Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people have been hospitalised from the effects of consuming skunk cannabis in the UK in each of the last five years.

Data on hospital admissions due to cannabis is published in the Health and Social Care Information Centre’s annual ‘Hospital Episode Statistics, Admitted patient care – England’ report, which are available here:

http://www.hscic.gov.uk/searchcatalogue?q=title%3A%22Hospital+Episode+Statistics%2C+Admitted+patient+care+-+England%22&area=&size=10&sort=Relevance

It is important to note that within the ICD-10 coding, used to measure hospital admissions due to cannabis, does not distinguish between skunk and other forms of cannabis.

The Government is committed to reducing drug use, including skunk cannabis, and the harmful effects it has on people.