NCJ Number
130801
Date Published
1991
Length
50 pages
Annotation
This report of a committee of experts, which has been endorsed and approved for publication by the Council of Justice (the British Section of the International Commission of Jurists), offers recommendations on all aspects of British drug laws that might require revision and improvement.
Abstract
An initial review of the rationale and history of drug control concludes that drug laws must aim at the disposition of offenders in such a way as to prevent or discourage reoffending and to prevent and reduce drug-related crimes, i.e., those crimes committed under the influence of drugs, by drug traffickers in the course of their trade. A chapter on the criminalization of simple possession offers recommendations regarding whether there are sufficient grounds for retaining, as a criminal offense, the possession of small quantities of drugs for consumption by the possessor. Another chapter addresses the distinction between the commercial and social supply of drugs in assessing penalties for drug dealing. Under the committee's recommendations, those who supply drugs socially to friends and acquaintances or who grow cannabis for their own use (social supply) would receive milder sanctions than those who engage in large-scale drug dealing for profit (commercial supply). Other chapters offer recommendations that pertain to mens rea under Section 28 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, the liability of occupiers under Section 8 of this act, assistance in the commission of offenses overseas and possession with intent to supply, drug users at the police station, and drug users at the intersection of medicine and the law. Appended discussion of drug use, crime, and compulsory treatment