The Police Foundation Inquiry report

The Police Foundation Inquiry report (March 2000) into Britain's drug laws, in particular the Misuse of Drugs Act (1971), generated massive media interest by concluding that the current Misuse of Drugs Act needed careful reform. The inquiry report made a large number of wide-ranging recommendations, but commentators were particularly interested in its call to reclassify Ecstasy, LSD and cannabis.¹

After two years of research, the inquiry concluded that: "Careful reform of Britain's 30 year old drugs law is needed as part of an effective strategy to reduce the harms caused by drugs and by the law itself, as well as to enable tougher action against suppliers and traffickers."

A full report is available from the Police Foundation website on:
www.police-foundation.org.uk/site/drugs.asp?Selection=Section4

A summary of the report is available from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation on: www.jrf.org.uk/knowledge/findings/foundations/n70.asp

Overview of findings

To establish a more accurate 'hierarchy of harm', they recommend that:

Heroin, cocaine and crack cocaine should remain in class A, as they are the most addictive drugs and cause the most deaths.
LSD and the Ecstasy group of drugs should be reclassified from class A to class B, which puts them on a par with amphetamines - a change recommended to the inquiry by the Association of Chief Police Officers.
Cannabis and cannabinols should be reclassified from class B and A respectively to class C.
The synthetic opioid Buprenorphine (except in combination with the antagonist drug naloxone) should be reclassified from class C to class B.

Possession

Recommendations on penalties for possession include:

The penalties for possession of class B and C drugs should not include prison.
The maximum prison sentence for possession of class A drugs should be reduced and imposed only when a community sentence and treatment have failed or been rejected.
Cautions are currently the police response to half of all possession offences. This should be developed as a statutory sanction, with guidelines to indicate when treatment and other conditions should be imposed. Such a caution would not be included on a criminal record.
Police powers to stop and search should be modified.
Fines carrying no criminal record should be introduced.

Supply

To strengthen the law against drug dealers and traffickers, the report recommends:

A new offence of persistent dealing rather than for single acts of supply.
The report supports the proposal for a national confiscation agency to remove assets gained through drug dealing, but responsibility for enforcing confiscation orders should be moved from magistrates to crown courts.
Sentencing guidelines should take into account aggravating factors in drug cases, such as violence, membership of an organised group, the involvement of children and so on.

Premises

The inquiry also recommended changes to section 8 of the Misuse of Drugs Act, which deals with allowing supply or production of drugs on premises. This section of the Act caused controversy and consternation following its use to jail two managers of a hostel for the homeless. The inquiry recommended that:

Paragraphs (a) and (b) of section 8 (knowingly permitting or suffering supply and production) should be retained, subject to redrafting, to make it clear that the main aim is to deter those who wilfully allow others to produce or supply controlled drugs.
'Wilfully' should be defined as not caring whether the unlawful production or supply takes place or not.
Someone should not be regarded as acting wilfully merely because they fail to disclose confidential information about someone in their care.
Section 8 should be extended to take into account the proposed offence of persistent dealing.
Paragraphs (c) and (d) of section 8 (knowingly permitting or suffering premises to be used for preparing opium or cannabis for smoking), section 9 (relating to opium), and section 9A (paraphernalia) should all be repealed.

The inquiry also called for:

a rapid and substantial shift of resources to treatment services;
closer monitoring of private or controlled drugs;
controlled drugs to be prescribed in instalments to limit their abuse.

Since the report raised issues of controversy, a Home Affairs select committee convened to hear oral evidence from Dame Runciman. The Government also asked the Home Office to produce a full response to each of the 81 recommendations.

Its recommendations can be found at:
www.police-foundation.org.uk/site/drugs.asp?Selection=Section5

To view the Government's response to the Police Foundation Inquiry report go to:
www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200001/cmselect/cmhaff/226/22604.htm

Reference

R Lohan. Press pounce on Runciman report: Police Foundation recommendations. Druglink May/June 2000.

PDF version