ABSTRACT

In this chapter I want to look at the ways courts deal with drug offenders, or rather with those charged with drug offences under the 1971 Act. There are two major types of offences; first possession, that is illegally possessing one of the prohibited drugs, and second supply, that is giving or selling one of those prohibited drugs. Of course the 1971 Act is more extensive than this but these are the main types of offences. There will of course be numerous users charged with an index offence other than a drug offence. Unfortunately no official national data are available for this group even though they may be in the majority. The research undertaken by Trevor Bennett (1998) is important in this respect.