Universities, Drugs and the Law

This information has been prepared by the Release legal team on request to outline the offences that are most likely to arise at a University, and what obligations the University has when these occur.

The law does not require Universities to adopt a zero-tolerance approach to student drug use or place a duty on them to report drug use, possession etc. to the police.

Apart from a few specific situations when some action (not necessarily reporting to police) must be taken, there is minimal risk of criminal liability for a University. This means there is a flexibility for Universities to develop their own polices and approaches to managing drug use by students (or, indeed, staff) that do not involve the police or the risk of criminal sanctions.

The purpose of the following information is to make clear the boundaries of the criminal law so that Universities are aware of what obligations they have. Also included are examples of non-punitive approaches that a University may wish to put into place.

The two main pieces of law in this area are the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016. Both are applied across the UK, but their interpretation is not identical across all nations. The information in this document relates to England & Wales, though where it is known that other nations have taken a different approach this is noted.

Misuse of Drugs Act for Universities