Legal News
New Drug Guidance Recommends Less Stringent Sentences for Drug Mules (27 January 2012)
Date: 27/01/2012
Individuals who purchase drugs to share may avoid being handed a jail term under new guidance. The sentencing council has also spelt out explicitly that the use of cannabis for medical purposes for serious medical conditions should be acknowledged by the courts when passing sentences to offenders. The official guidance, set to come into force in February, recommends a less stringent approach to “drug mule” sentencing.
The council claims that it acknowledges that drug mules have often been exploited by criminals: judges will be informed to consider a six-year jail term as a “starting point”, as opposed to the current starting point of ten years, when deliberating cases of drug mules and their “lesser role” in transporting up to one kilogram of either heroin or cocaine.
The comprehensive new guidelines recommend that judges do not change their sentencing for individuals who have been found to possess or supply illegal drugs. A criminal who deals drugs for profit can expect a prison sentence. Those dealing drugs such as heroin or cocaine can expect to receive a minimum sentence of four-and-a-half-years. Individuals who deal drugs with anyone under the age of 18 are set to receive harsher treatment, and there will be tougher sentences for the industrial production of drugs.
Lord Justice Hughes stated that the guidelines reinforce current sentencing practices and that drug dealers should expect to receive lengthy jail terms. Niamh Eastwood, who works at Release, a drugs advice charity, claimed that the charity welcomed the new guidelines yet claimed that the entire system used for sentencing required significant reform.
Duncan Lewis’ criminal law solicitors can represent clients accused of drug offences.