Misuse of Drugs and Aberrations In the Criminal Law

Abstract

Courts and lawyers are no strangers to difficult questions of substantive criminal law. Where the stakes are high, as they are under the Misuse of Drugs Act, the resolution of issues which determine the precise ambit of criminal liability is even more agonizing. The need to support the Legislature in the 'war on drugs' has a great potential to clash with traditional criminal justice values of due process and fairness. This article reviews three borderline situations. Two concern the mens rea of possession and trafficking, where the court has made numerous pronouncements. The remaining has to do with the meaning of complicity in a drug offense, a question which the court has yet to face squarely.