Police to get new anti-drug powers (UK) -Guardian [View All]

Police will be given new powers to crack down on drugs as a new survey shows Britain has the highest cocaine use in Europe.
Under a new drugs bill published today, police will have greater powers to close crack houses and to automatically treat people caught in possession of a certain amount of a drug as dealers.
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The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction 2004 report found that 2% of all adults in the UK and Spain reported recent cocaine use, close to figures for the US, compared to less than 1% across the EU as a whole.
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The bill will also allow a suspect's "unreasonable" refusal to consent to an intimate body search to count against them in court. Magistrates will be given the power to remand into police custody for up to a further 192 hours those who swallow drugs until the evidence becomes available again.

The Anti-Social Behaviour Act will also be amended to give police the power to enter premises such as crack houses to issue a closure notice.

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/homeaffairs/story/0,11026,1359360,00.html