Brits believed to spend more on drugs and hookers than on alcohol

Good grief – what will the number pushers, aka statisticians, come up with next? The Morning Advertiser, a UK trade publications, reported on 1 October 2014 that some guys at the Office of National Statistics (ONS) have worked out that UK consumers spend more every year on illegal drugs and prostitution than on beer and wine.

The ONS figures show that GBP 12.3 billion (EUR 15.7 billion) was spent on illegal substances and sexual services in 2013 as opposed to GBP 11 billion (EUR 11 billion) that was spent on wine and beer.

How did they arrive at these figures?

The prostitution figures, which are listed under the heading “miscellaneous goods and services”, are based on Home Office studies carried out in London in 2004, which have been scaled up to derive total UK numbers of prostitutes by using ONS population statistics. It is estimated that spending on prostitution is GBP 4.3 billion a year.

The narcotics estimates, listed under “alcoholic beverages, tobacco and narcotics”, have been compiled using a “demand based estimation process” (whatever this is based on) for the six main categories of drugs – powder cocaine, crack cocaine, amphetamines, ecstasy and imported and home produced cannabis. This illicit trade is worth GBP 6.7 billion a year, according to the ONS figures.

The combined figure for drugs and prostitution was calculated by adjusting for inflation.

Sadly, the ONS refrained from saying what the implications of these findings are. I think the ONS figures crunchers owe us an answer.