ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to compare the incidence of use, and highlight the emerging trends and key criminal justice responses in England and Wales and the Netherlands. The picture of drug use in England and Wales shows overall decline in the use of established illegal drugs since high water marks at the beginning of the millennium, despite some drugs seeming to regain popularity in the last few years. Evidence for a decline in use of illicit drugs comes from the most recent Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW). The Dutch situation bears some resemblance to the trends in illicit drug use in terms of consumption in England and Wales. Whereas CSEW provided contemporary estimates of many forms of drug use, referring to drug use occurring in 2014, Dutch data mostly comes from reports published by the European Commission. The story of contemporary drug policy in the United Kingdom starts in 1971 with the passing of the Misuse of Drugs Act.
