Drugs and licensed premises

Preventing drug misuse

It is a fact that drug dealing takes place in a large percentage of licensed premises. The best run public houses are not immune to this problem. Under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 heavy penalties can be imposed on those who permit drug related activities to take place on their premises, including supplying and smoking cannabis.

Why should you be concerned?

  • Damage to the trade or reputation
  • The potential for other criminal activity, violence etc.
  • Risk of losing your licence and career

Prevention

  • High standards of service and cleanliness are a powerful deterrent to drugs trade. This shows that you care about your venue and look after it and all who use it
  • Low standards indicate the 'don't care management style'. Dealers will look forward for a poorly-kept venue, because if it is not looked after, then it is most likely not being monitored
  • Dealers will not take any unnecessary risks - high profile management will make them uncomfortable. Bar staff are your eyes and ears when you are not around, so they need to be alert too.

Materials to look out for

  • Torn up beer mats/cigarette packets/bits of cardboard left on tables or in ashtrays
  • Foam stuffing from seats/foam left lying around
  • Roaches (Home made filter tips from cannabis cigarettes)
  • Small packets made of folded paper, card or foil.
  • Empty sweet wrappings left in toilets
  • Payment with tightly rolled bank notes, or notes that have been tightly rolled
  • Traces of blood or powder on bank notes
  • Traces of powder on toilet seats or other surfaces in toilets
  • Very clean surfaces in toilets
  • Syringes (Caution: can carry infection. Do not touch)
  • Spoons or burned tinfoil in toilets

Signs of dealing and monitoring

  • A person that stays a while and has a lot of friends that only stay for short periods
  • A person making frequent trips to the toilets, garden or car park followed by different people at the same time
  • A person seeming to hide in corners talking very quietly
  • Lots of hand or body contact with members of the same sex

Dealers are not identifiable by appearance - they may look very respectable.

Monitoring

The following provide a good excuse for 'surveillance' of individuals you are wary of:

  • Frequent glass collections
  • Emptying of ashtrays
  • Cleaning and wiping tables

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