If you become involved with the police your first reaction may be to mouth off and become stroppy or aggressive, even if you know you’re innocent. Don’t - it’ll just make the situation more difficult to deal with. Stay calm, keep quiet and ask for a solicitor. There are strict limits on how long you can be detained in a police station. If you’re 17 or under, the police must contact your parents or guardian; you shouldn’t be questioned without an appropriate adult present because the interview wouldn’t be allowed as evidence in a court. If your parents do come to the police station and take responsibility for you, you’re far more likely to be cautioned. If your parents don’t come, you’ll probably be charged with an offence.
If the police consider that your offence is relatively minor, and particularly if you’re young and it’s a first offence, they can give you an official “telling off”, known as a caution. Different police forces have different attitudes to cautioning, so you can’t rely on it as an option. You can be cautioned more than once, but you’re unlikely to be cautioned more than three times - after that you’ll be sent to court. Cautions are generally only used for the least serious offences, such as possessing a small quantity of cannabis for personal use.
If you’re prosecuted and found guilty, sentences vary according to:
the nature of the offencehow harmful the drug isyour personal circumstances, such as how old you are, and whether it’s a first offence.The maximum sentences are only imposed in very serious cases. Whatever happens you get a criminal record for life.
Related Post: Definition of Marijuana.
cannabis, drug abuse, drug law, drug possession, drugs, drugs and the law, police caution 
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