Over 1,100 children trafficked into UK drug trade, data shows

Drug charity calls for legal regulation of drug market to protect vulnerable children
The Guardian (UK)
Thursday, July 30, 2020

uk cannabis plantation police2More than 1,100 children have been trafficked into the UK’s drug trade, new Home Office figures reveal. The data obtained by the drug reform charity Transform shows that 1,173 children were enslaved by drug dealers in 2019. Figures from January to December 2019 show that the majority of the 1,853 people estimated by the Home Office to have been trafficked into the illicit drugs business were children. Transform obtained the Home Office statistics through a freedom of information request and released them on Thursday to mark the UN’s World Day Against Trafficking in Persons. (See also: UK must regulate drug market to combat human trafficking)