Section 50: Power of police, etc to dispose of seized psychoactive substances
This section provides for a fast track procedure for the disposal of seized psychoactive substances where a psychoactive substance is seized during a search, carried out without a warrant, of a person, vehicle, vessel or aircraft under sections 36 to 38. Where, following the stop and search, the officer reasonably believes that there is no evidence of an offence under the Act (for example, where the officer concludes that the psychoactive substance seized is intended for personal use by the subject of the search), and the seized psychoactive substance was not being used for the purposes of, or in connection with an exempted activity (see section 11), the officer may dispose of the substance as he or she thinks fit, that is without the judicial process provided for in section 51. The procedure provided for in this section broadly mirrors that for temporary class drugs under section 23A(4) and (5) of the 1971 Act.