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Don't Get Caught- How to Avoid UK Drug Busts

Author: Jonty Adderley
Saturday, December 7, 2002
Although Britain's most popular illegal drug cannabis is set to become Class C in the New Year, possessing it will remain an arrestible offence, meaning being caught with it could still seriously harm a person's employment and travel prospects. The best way to avoid arrest of course is to stay away from drugs entirely, though according to ecstasy expert Nicholas Saunders, certain precautions can help those who do transgress.

Saunders compiled his arrest avoiding precautions from 'a friendly London policeman' five years ago and published them in his still highly informative book Ecstasy Reconsidered, though tragically died in a car accident in South Africa shortly afterwards. Recently, some UK forces have started adopting police state style tactics of random sniffer dog searches which can pose additional dangers not covered in the advice below.


1: The most important thing is to insist that any suspect drugs in your possession are for your own consumption as otherwise you will be dealt with as a dealer. Someone found with a handful of tablets who would normally be sent to prison for supply, may get off if the police believe they are addicted (i.e. for their own use).

2: If you don't want your drugs to be found, keep them in your underpants. To carry out an 'intimate search' the police have to take you to a police station and follow a tedious procedure, and they tend to avoid that.

3: If the police stop a car full of people and ask them to get out, and then find some pills on the floor, they do not have enough evidence to charge anyone unless someone admits it is theirs. They will usually say they will "charge the lot of you" to try to get someone to confess, but this is bluff. However, this would enable them to get a search warrant to search the homes of all the occupants.

4: Do not identify what your suspect drugs are. Without your confession they will have to be analysed, increasing the cost of the case and making it more likely to be thrown out by the CPS (crown prosecution service). If you have pills with a logo on them, it is fair to say that you do not know what drug they contain and that they may contain none at all.
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