The present legal framework for the regulation of drugs in the United Kingdom as unsatisfactory. We believe it should be scrapped almost in its entirety. Its faults are manifold. The law as it stands is incoherent and out of date. It is based far more on prejudice and folk myth than on reason. It makes no mention of the UK’s two most death-dealing drugs: alcohol and tobacco. It leaves far too much discretion in the hands of the authorities, especially the police, who want and need clearer guidance for purposes of enforcing the law. The law as it stands criminalises people who are not otherwise criminals. It probably makes a positive contribution to causing violent crime. It certainly increases the chances that people who do use drugs do so in an unsafe manner. It embodies a classification system that is full of anomalies. Not least, changes to the existing law owe as much to the exigencies of the on-going combat between the major political parties as to careful consideration of the available evidence. As we stated earlier, we believe that the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and much of its attendant legislation—the Drugs Act 2005 in particular—should be repealed and replaced by a consolidated Misuse of Substances Act. |