When looking at drugs and their uses there are specific types of legislation for the use of varying drugs dependant on what it is and what it is for, the three main laws regarding drugs and their usage are the misuse of drugs act 1971, the medicines act 1968 and the psychoactive substances act 2016. The misuse of drugs act is intended to prevent the non-medical use of certain drugs and for this reason it controls not just medicinal drugs but also drugs with no current medical use. Drugs that come under this act often knows as controlled drugs and the law defines a series of offences including unlawfully supplying, intent to supply, import and export and unlawful production. The big main difference between this act and the medicines act is that the misuse of drugs act also prohibits unlawful possession.
These laws are enforced by the police and they have the rights to stop, detain and search individuals if a reasonable suspicion is reached. There are three different types of drug classifications for illegal drugs, Class A which includes such drugs as cocaine, ecstasy and heroin. There is then Class B which includes drugs such as amphetamines, ketamine, spice which has been newly added as it was previously a “legal” drug and Cannabis, Cannabis is now legal to use for medicinal purposes but can only be prescribed by specialist doctors. There is also Class C drugs which include anabolic steroids, and minor tranquilizers.
