I left it vague deliberately, as I can't know.

Here are the results of a 2014 survey:
https://www.theguardian.com/society/201 ... t-addicted

69% of respondents said they had used illegal drugs and 21% of those (14.5% of the total sample) still did. If that applied across the UK, that'd be several million people using illegal drugs at least occasionally.

The 2015/16 Home Office estimate is lower at 8.4% of people aged 16-59 had using an illegal drug in the previous year (approx. 2.7 million), down from 10.5% a decade earlier.
www.drugwise.org.uk/how-many-people-use-drugs/

By those standards, that we've 'only' seen Chase, Walker, Hardaker and Minns banned from ~350 SL players in the last year weirdly doesn't look too back. Especially, as I'd assumed use is higher among young men in their 20s and early 30s than people in their 50s.

How many of those are doing it wholly or in part because of emotional issues or stress, I can only guess at.

Anyway, retrospectively, that's how I'll define 'a lot'.



I'm not sure arrest records for use would be a very good guide. In a single year The NCA seized 69.8 tonnes of cocaine, 4.5 tonnes of heroin, and 123.1 tonnes of cannabis. A tonne is a million grams - that's a gram of coke each for every man, woman and child in the UK, give or take. Presumably a lot more gets through to the market. Even if the surveys aren't completely accurate, I can't see only 'a few' people's noses, lungs and veins being able to support that level of criminal trade.

I left it vague deliberately, as I can't know.

Here are the results of a 2014 survey:
https://www.theguardian.com/society/201 ... t-addicted

69% of respondents said they had used illegal drugs and 21% of those (14.5% of the total sample) still did. If that applied across the UK, that'd be several million people using illegal drugs at least occasionally.

The 2015/16 Home Office estimate is lower at 8.4% of people aged 16-59 had using an illegal drug in the previous year (approx. 2.7 million), down from 10.5% a decade earlier.
www.drugwise.org.uk/how-many-people-use-drugs/

By those standards, that we've 'only' seen Chase, Walker, Hardaker and Minns banned from ~350 SL players in the last year weirdly doesn't look too back. Especially, as I'd assumed use is higher among young men in their 20s and early 30s than people in their 50s.

How many of those are doing it wholly or in part because of emotional issues or stress, I can only guess at.

Anyway, retrospectively, that's how I'll define 'a lot'.



I'm not sure arrest records for use would be a very good guide. In a single year The NCA seized 69.8 tonnes of cocaine, 4.5 tonnes of heroin, and 123.1 tonnes of cannabis. A tonne is a million grams - that's a gram of coke each for every man, woman and child in the UK, give or take. Presumably a lot more gets through to the market. Even if the surveys aren't completely accurate, I can't see only 'a few' people's noses, lungs and veins being able to support that level of criminal trade.