If the police stop you in the UK.

This isn't about being obstructive or "beating the system". It's about knowing the actual rules so you don't accidentally make things worse, and so you can tell whether a stop is being done properly. Staying polite and calm is genuinely the most useful thing you can do. Rights and courtesy aren't opposites.

If you get stopped

A police officer can stop and search you if they have "reasonable grounds" to suspect you're carrying drugs, a weapon, stolen goods, or something to be used in a crime (GOV.UK). For drugs specifically the power comes from the Misuse of Drugs Act. "Reasonable grounds" has to be based on facts or intelligence, not on how you look, your age, your ethnicity, or the fact that you've been in trouble before.

There's a second kind of search that doesn't need reasonable grounds, a section 60, but it can only be used in a specific area for a limited time, when a senior officer has authorised it because they expect serious violence. It's meant for weapons, not routine drug stops.

Being searched: the rules

Before searching you, the officer must tell you a set of things. There's even a mnemonic officers are trained on, GOWISELY: their name and police station, the grounds for the search, the object (what they're looking for), your right to a record, and the legal power they're using (GOV.UK). If they don't tell you these, the search may not have been lawful, but the moment to challenge that is later, with a solicitor or a complaint, not by physically resisting on the street.

In public, they can ask you to remove your outer coat, jacket and gloves, no more than that. STRONG A more thorough search has to happen out of public view and by an officer of the same sex.

You're entitled to a record of the search. Ask for it at the time, or you can request one later (usually within 3 months). It's worth having if anything about the stop felt wrong.

Do you have to answer their questions?

This is the part people most often get wrong, in both directions. During a simple stop and search, you do not have to answer questions, including where you're going, what you've been doing, or, in most situations, giving your name and address. Staying quiet is not an offence and can't be held against you at that stage. You can simply, politely, decline to answer.

The big exception is driving: if you're the driver of a vehicle, you must by law give your name, address and date of birth, and produce your documents when required. And once you've been arrested, the picture changes again (below). Being calm and giving your name is often the quickest way to end an encounter, but know that in a street search it's your choice, not a legal duty.

What you should never do is give false details, obstruct the officer, or run. Those can turn a search that would've gone nowhere into an actual offence.

If you get arrested

If you're arrested, the officer must tell you that you're under arrest and why. You'll be cautioned, the familiar wording: "You do not have to say anything. But it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence." That middle clause is the important one: silence is your right, but a court can draw conclusions from staying silent about something you later use to defend yourself. This is exactly why the answer to "should I explain myself?" is almost always: wait for the solicitor.

At the police station you have three rights that are free and automatic, and you should use them (GOV.UK · Being arrested: your rights):

1. Free legal advice. You can speak to a solicitor, including the free duty solicitor, and it costs you nothing, whatever your income. There is no upside to answering questions in an interview before you've done this. 2. Someone told where you are. You can have a person notified that you've been detained. 3. Medical help if you feel ill, and access to the written codes of practice that govern how you're treated.

You can normally be held for up to 24 hours before police must charge you or release you (longer for serious offences, with authorisation). A possession arrest very rarely goes near that.

Warnings, cautions and charges

For a small amount of cannabis for personal use, with nothing else going on, being arrested is not the usual outcome and a court case is rarer still. Police have a ladder of options, and where you land depends on the amount, the circumstances, and your history:

A cannabis warning is the lightest: a verbal warning, recorded by the police but not a criminal record as such. A community resolution or an on-the-spot penalty notice (a fine of around £90) sits above that. A caution is more serious: you have to admit the offence to accept one, and it goes on your record and can show up in enhanced background checks. A charge means it goes to court. The maximum penalty for possession of a Class B drug is up to 5 years, an unlimited fine, or both, but that's the legal ceiling, not what a first, small personal-possession case typically attracts (GOV.UK). Our Law page goes into the possession-versus-supply distinction, which matters far more than most people realise.

Searches of your home

Your home has more protection than your pockets. As a rule, police need a warrant from a court to search your home, but there are real exceptions, the main one being that after an arrest they have powers to search premises connected to it. If officers come to the door, you're entitled to ask to see the warrant and to see what powers they're relying on. As on the street, the place to contest whether a search was lawful is afterwards, with legal advice, not by obstructing it in the moment.

If you're under 18

Young people can be stopped and searched under the same rules, but there are extra protections once things go further. If you're under 18 and taken to a station for an interview, an "appropriate adult" (a parent, guardian or trained volunteer) must be present, and you shouldn't be interviewed without one. The free legal advice above applies to you too, and using it matters even more. If you're a young person reading this worried about a friend or yourself, the honest move is to talk to an adult you trust and to get proper advice early.

This isn't legal advice

This page is general information about how the rules work, not advice on any specific situation, and the law can change. If you're actually dealing with something, get real advice: Release runs a free, confidential helpline and is the UK's specialist on drugs and the law; Citizens Advice can help too, and for anything serious, a criminal-defence solicitor. If you just want non-judgemental facts about cannabis itself, FRANK is there 24/7. And if what's really on your mind is how much you're using, that's what the rest of this site is for. Start with Harm Reduction or Quitting.