The Misuse of Drugs Act: 50 years of failure

Abstract

The May 27, 2021 marked the 50th anniversary of the Misuse of Drugs Act. This was not the first piece of legislation in the UK to criminalize possession of certain substances, but it is the one that criminalizes many of the young people today. When the 1971 Act first came into force, Release, the charity Eastwood works for, was four years old. The organization was established to respond to the policing of young people who were part of the countercultural movement, described at that time in parliamentary debates about the new drugs legislation as those with 'long hair and a scruffy exterior'. The Release founders were also enraged by what they saw as the racist element of policing with newly arrived migrants, people who were Black and brown, being repeatedly searched and arrested by police. These groups were seen as a threat and the 'other', with the easiest way to harass them being through the drug laws and by being selective about the substances controlled.