Expert comment: Drug offences in London rise due to proactive policing and ‘brazen attitudes’

Dr James Morgan said officers are getting better at spotting suspicious behaviour of illegal e-bikes

Date: 20 October 2026

Recent Home Office data showed that the Metropolitan Police recorded a total of 54,231 drug offences in 2025-26 – the second largest annual total on record.

This included a record 21,199 offences for trafficking in controlled drugs.

Dr James Morgan, course leader for Criminology and Psychopathology MSc at London Metropolitan University, said this shows the continued effects of proactive policing initiatives.

“Officers are getting better at spotting suspicious behaviour of cars, as well as targeting illegal e-bikes, which street level drug dealing is increasingly dependent on.

“Since the police have developed improved strategies for stopping e-bikes this has resulted in further arrests of low-level drug dealers, in addition to campaigns targeting organised crime such as county lines dealing operations.”

Drugs are also increasingly marketed and sold through social media feeds, such as Instagram, Telegram and Signal, according to Dr Morgan.

“While some particularly blatant advertising might have contributed to arrests for trafficking, this is an avenue that the police can exploit even further,” he added.

The Metropolitan Police are also still working their way through a steady stream of historic trafficking offences uncovered through the infiltration of the EnchroChat encrypted communication platform several years ago.

The impact of ‘brazen attitudes’ on drug use

The Home Office figures show that the Met Police recorded 25,000 offences for possessing cannabis in 2025-26 – the most common form of drug offence.

While still historically quite low, this was an 18 per cent jump and the first annual increase for five years. And for possessing other types of drugs, London saw a record 7,912 offences in 2025-26.

“This might reflect increasingly brazen approaches to drug use, with anecdotal complaints of public cannabis smoking increasingly becoming the norm, as well as normalised cocaine and ketamine use in the night-time economy,” said Dr Morgan.

“Homelessness continues to be more visible than before the Covid-19 pandemic and it is now a common sight to see crack and spice smoked in public. While viewed as a sign of decline for the public, it can represent low-hanging fruit for the police.

“There is insufficient evidence for an increase in drug use, but some evidence for more effective enforcement and the nature of drug use changing.”

But Dr Morgan said increased policing was not yet having much of an impact on customers.

“While more drug dealers are ending up in handcuffs and in prison, drug prices are notably declining on long-term trends, especially for cocaine and ketamine. This is despite evidence of a cocaine drought over the summer.

"This suggests that drug markets are easily able to withstand police action.”