Drug use or dealing
Is it anti-social behaviour (ASB)?
There are four main offences associated with illegal drugs: possession, supply, production and importation.
Drug possession, dealing (supply), production and importation are criminal offences. Please report it to the police immediately.
Cannabis
Cannabis is commonly used in the UK – national statistics suggest some 31% of adults in the UK have used it at some point in their lives (Statistica.com). We often receive reports about cannabis use in and around our homes and communities. Whilst cannabis use isn’t the easiest issues to deal with, we know it can have an impact on our customers. Our guidance sets out our approach to managing reports about cannabis.
Cuckooing and county lines
You may hear the phrases ‘cuckooing’ or ‘county lines’. These are drug dealing terms. Our Locality officers are using their local knowledge to spot the signs of abuse and exploitation, particularly of drug gangs exploiting vulnerable residents and young people. It’s a serious problem, especially for places with good transport links.
Cuckooing is a term for the takeover of a house by gangs from outside the area who use the home as a base. They specifically target and befriend vulnerable people as they may be isolated, lonely and easy to manipulate or intimidate. Victims experience their home’s been taken over and someone from the gang is often staying there – exploiting others through illegal activities such as prostitution, people trafficking, modern slavery and drug dealing.
‘County lines’ is a term used when drug gangs from big cities expand their operations to smaller towns, often using violence to drive out local dealers and then exploiting local children and vulnerable people to sell drugs.
The gang might also send young, vulnerable people from their own area to distribute drugs, often intimidating and threatening them to make them stay. The impact of this is that young people become indebted to the gang and are forced into criminal activity and exploitation to pay off debts and are living in fear, feeling they’re trapped.
What you can do
- After you’ve talked to the police, please get in touch with our Customer Service Management Centre by calling 0300 5000 926. We need to know your incident report number and the police officer you spoke to. We’ll use this information to work with them and you on what happens next.
- If you’d rather send us a written report, please fill in our ASB form
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