Fines For Drug Offences

EDM number 674 in 1993-94, proposed by Robert Maclennan on 24/02/1994.

That this House recognises the urgent need to reduce the consumption of illegal drugs of all kinds; notes with concern the clear conflict between the proposals of the Secretary of State for the Home Department and of the Scottish Office on the use of fines for drug offences; notes that the Home Secretary has proposed raising the maximum fine to ú2,500 for all offences under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971; but notes that the Scottish Office, in the consultation document, Improving the Delivery of Justice in Scotland, proposes the use of ú25 fiscal fines, which do not constitute a criminal conviction, for the same offences where appropriate; believes that the Home Secretary has displayed a complete disregard for the impracticality and ineffectiveness of imposing such severe penalties, particularly on the personal use of cannabis, which has been indicated by his own research; welcomes the criticism of Home Office policy by the police on these same grounds; and believes that this policy should be abandoned in favour of a more graded response towards punishing drug use and sale, so as to concentrate the limited resources in the criminal justice system efficiently and effectively on the most acute problems, and, particularly, those associated with the use, manufacture, importation and sale of the most harmful narcotics.

This motion has been signed by a total of 21 MPs.