To what extent has the United Kingdom law on psychoactive substances been successful?

Abstract

This review examines the law in relation to psychoactive substances and investigating how dangerous they really are and how much the law is required, together with how its enforcement is really impacting on the number of arrests and convictions and its prevalence in prisons. The law that was enforced on the 26th May 2016 across the United Kingdom has been the subject of some criticism, due to questionable gaps within this law, making it difficult to secure convictions. The ‘blanket ban’ approach has too been questioned, due to its lack of success with other legislations. Whilst this is not the first time a law like this has been enforced, the UK’s approach to the global problem, may not be the answer, or if it is following/making the same mistakes other countries have made. The United Kingdom policing system is already under an immense amount of pressure, and whilst the problem on psychoactive substances is clear, the law is not. So, while UK police are enforcing this law, their conviction rates are ceasing to be parallel with the number of arrests. Drugs, classified under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, are prominent in society, even almost fifty year after the legislation came into force. A new approach was adopted to overcome the problem with psychoactive substances, it will not be a surprise if they are too, just as prominent in later years to come.