Page 34 - Door Supervision Training Booklet

DRUGS
All drugs are potentially dangerous, but more so when they are a misused or abused for non- medical or recreational purposes.
The effects of different types of drugs vary widely as well, depending on the strength of the dose, the amount taken, the abuser's state of mind and health, and whether they have been taken in conjunction with other substances, such as alcohol. The quality of drugs bought on the streets will vary as well, with varying degrees of purity and strength.
Add to these the risks from the various methods of taking the drugs, and it is easy to understand why most countries around the world have had to bring in laws to regulate their manufacture, sale, distribution, and possession.
WHY DO WE NEED TO KEEP DRUGS OUT OF PUBS AND CLUBS?
• It is against the law to allow illegal drugs on licensed premises (Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, Public Entertainments Licenses Drug Misuse Act 1997
• The licensee can lose his licence
• If the premises are full of drug abusers, very few drinks are sold, reducing profitability
• Increase in fights on the premises, between rival dealers and over drugs money owed
• Drug abusers can become violent themselves, increasing risk of physical harm to door
supervisors
• Reduced personal safety for door supervisors (risk of contagious drug related diseases)
• The misuse of illegal street drugs causes about 700 deaths each year
• Emergency first aid situations increase (assaults and overdoses)
• The prevention/reduction of drug misuse in now very much a part of the security
function
• Door supervisors can face prosecution for allowing the misuse of drugs on licensed
premises
Nightclubs and pubs have traditionally been seen as good places for drug dealers to sell their wares, and it follows that buyers go to certain licensed premises purely to buy drugs. Door supervisors working at such premises have a moral and professional duty to prevent the illegal sale and use of controlled drugs, and to try to reduce the effects of such abuse, like overdoses and accidents.
In order to keep incidents like these to a minimum it is obviously necessary to prevent dealers entering the premises to supply the drugs, and to prevent users from bringing their own drugs in. Licensed premises that become known as places where people can go to buy and use illegal drugs soon earn themselves a bad reputation, get bad press and invite investigation by the local police. If a venue you work at loses its licence for allowing drugs on the premises, you lose your job.
Magistrates and crown court judges can also impose heavy penalties on licensees who knowingly permit or suffer drug related activities to take place on their premises. But it is not only the licensee or manager who commits the offence. Certain sections of the Misuse of Drugs Act apply also to anyone 'concerned in the management of the premises', which could mean the
33