This document is Copyright, 1999, by the Police Foundation. It appears on this site with the cooperation of the Police Foundation. We are grateful to them for a job well done in preparing this report, and for allowing this work to appear on this site.

Preface

Origin and remit of Inquiry

We were set up in August 1997 by The Police Foundation, with the assistance of the Prince’s Trust, to review the effectiveness of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. Our report follows. Our membership and terms of reference are set out at Appendices 1 and 2 respectively.

We were assisted in our work by many organisations and individuals and we gratefully acknowledge here our indebtedness to all those who helped and supported us. Further details of this and of our programme of work are given in Appendices 3, 4 and 6.

Contents

Overview

• Introduction
• The United Nations Convention
• Other countries’ approaches
• The Misuse of Drugs Act 1971
• Related legislation
  • The Customs and Excise Management Act 1979
  • The Medicines Act 1968
  • The Criminal Justice (International Co-operation) Act 1990
  • The Drug Trafficking Act 1994

• Introduction
• Scale and nature of drug use
  • The Addicts Index
  • The regional drug misuse databases
  • National and regional surveys
  • European comparisons
• Drug-related deaths
• Seizures, prices and purity of controlled drugs
• Drug offenders
• How drug offenders are dealt with
• Public attitudes
• Conclusions

Chapter Three: Classes and Schedules

• Introduction
• Penalties
• Developments since 1971
• Criteria for classifying drugs
• Other European countries
• Our recommended approach
  • Acute toxicity
  • Chronic health risks
  • Route of use
  • Dependence and addiction
  • Social risks
• Our assessment of the relative harm of drugs
  • Main drugs and their Classes
• Our conclusions on classification
  • Number of classes
  • Transfers of drugs between Classes
  • Future criteria
• Relationship of Classes to Schedules in the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 1985
• Early warning and monitoring

Chapter Four: Trafficking Offences

• Introduction
• What are trafficking offences?
• The 1988 United Nations Convention
• Penalties
• Import/export
  • Our conclusions on import/export offences
• Production
  • Our conclusions on production
• Supply
  • Our conclusions on supply
• Possession with intent to supply
  • Our conclusions on possession with intent to supply
• Our recommendations on maximum penalties for trafficking offences
• Sentencing guidelines
• Confiscation
• Forfeiture
• Precursors

Chapter Five: Non-Trafficking Offences

• Introduction: relevance of United Nations conventions
• Possession
  • Our conclusions
  • Arrestability
• Premises offences
• Opium offences
• Paraphernalia
• Drug-driving

Chapter Six: Enforcement

• Introduction
• Stop and search
• Powers of arrest
• Use of discretion
  • Cautioning
  • Reprimands and warnings
  • Informal warnings etc
  • Warning letters in Scotland
  • Fiscal fines
  • Compounding
  • Discretion: our conclusions
• Out of court fines
• Criminal records

Chapter Seven: Cannabis

• Introduction
• Prevalence, availability and price
• Relative harmfulness of cannabis
  • Long-term risks
  • The gateway theory
  • Overall assessment of the harmfulness of cannabis
• The law on cannabis
  • The United Nations Conventions
  • The UK law on cannabis
  • The operation of the law on cannabis
  • Diversion from prosecution
  • Sentencing of offenders
  • Cultivation of cannabis
• International comparisons
• Therapeutic use of cannabis
  • Our view
• Arguments for and against change in the law
• Our conclusions and recommendations on cannabis

Chapter Eight: Treatment and The Law

• Introduction
• The case for treatment within the criminal justice system
• Resources
• Treatment as part of the criminal justice process
  • Caution-plus
  • Arrest referral
  • Pre -sentence
  • Sentence
  • Controls over prescribing
• Doctors
• Pharmacists

Summary of Recommendations

Appendix 1 The Members of the Inquiry
Appendix 2 Terms of reference
Appendix 3 Witnesses Who Provided Oral Evidence
Appendix 4 Individuals and Organisations Submitting Written Evidence
Appendix 5 Main Events in Twentieth Century Drug Control
Appendix 6 Associated Publications