UK Drugs Legislation since 1971

The UK's Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 was supplemented by later laws: the Drugs Act 2005 made possession of psilocin-containing fungi an offence, while proposed threshold amounts for drug offences were deemed unworkable and never implemented. Temporary Class Drug Orders (TCDOs), introduced in 2011, allowed substances to be controlled for one year before either permanent inclusion or removal. The Psychoactive Substances Act 2016 aimed to address new psychoactive substances (NPS) but faced criticism, particularly over the difficulty of proving a substance was psychoactive. Several other acts also indirectly affect controlled drug offences.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Concurrent with the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (MDAct), several further pieces of legislation were introduced, principally the Drugs Act 2005, Temporary Class Drug Orders 2011 (TCDOs) and the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016 (PSA). Before 2005, the cultivation of ‘magic mushrooms’ was not an offence. Whether a person was in possession of such mushrooms depended on whether they were in possession of a preparation containing a controlled drug. This was such a contentious issue that the Drugs Act 2005 made possession of fungi containing psilocin or an ester of psilocin an offence. Other parts of the Drugs Act which were intended to deal with the concept of threshold amounts, above which an offence might be committed, were deemed to be unworkable and never implemented. TCDOs were introduced by the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011. They allowed substances to be placed under temporary control for one year, after which control would either be relinquished or the substances would be included in the MDAct. The PSA was the United Kingdom's response to the plethora of NPS that were being used. This legislation received much criticism for a number of reasons, one of which was the difficulty of demonstrating that a given substance was psychoactive. A number of other Acts have an indirect bearing on controlled drug offences.