Drugs policy changes threaten social suppliers

At present cases are dealt with individually, but the Home Office has written to stakeholders asking for views on the minimum quantity of drugs that a person can have if a court is to charge them with intent to supply, rather than the less serious offence of possession.

A spokeswoman for Drugscope said: The thing that a lot of young people dont appreciate is that if they buy an amount to share among friends, in the eye of the law that could be intent to supply.

The Home Office letter suggests a limit of 500g of leaf cannabis, or 113g of resin, 10 wraps of amphetamine or tablets of ecstasy, and 7g of cocaine, crack or heroine. Drugscope said that the thresholds were fairly high but the number of people that could be supplied varied between drugs.In Brixton the Metropolitan Police has decided to reverse a decision not to prosecute people for the possession of small amounts of cannabis, after it found that dealers were only carrying small amounts of the drug to avoid being charged.