NCJ Number
79281
Journal
Court Volume: 3 Issue: 2 Dated: (Summer 1978) Pages: 38-47
Date Published
1978
Length
10 pages
Annotation
Britain's 1971 legislation on drug offenses and sanctions is described.
Abstract
The 1971 act replaced existing legislation regarded as too inflexible for sentencing purposes. The previous legislation did not enable courts to distinguish adequately between simple possession and trafficking offenses or between offenses involving relatively harmful drugs, particularly when new drug misuses were developing so quickly. The new legislation distinguishes sharply between unlawful possession and trafficking by creating new trafficking offenses (e.g., unlawful possession with intent to supply) with severe punishments. It also distinguishes between kinds of drugs by dividing them into three classes reflecting descending degrees of harmfulness. The penalties for misusing drugs are graded according to each class. Class A drugs are those which are internationally controlled as narcotics (e.g., heroin, morphine, cocaine, opium, and injectable amphetamines) along with the hallucinatory drugs. Class B drugs are oral stimulants, the codeine group, and cannabis and its preparations. Class C drugs are stimulants, such as mandrax. The distinctions indicated create a sentencing grid whose coordinates are, on the one hand, offenses varying in degrees of seriousness, and on the other, drugs varying in degrees of harmfulness. This means that the courts must sentence offenders within the range set for a particular offense in relation to a particular drug; however, within each range of sentencing powers, the courts have wide discretion to deal with offenders according to the particular circumstances of the case and the offender's character and background. Sample cases showing penalties under the new legislation are supplied. References are not provided. (Author summary modified)