Supplying illegal drugs is given harsher penalties under the Misuse of Drugs Act than possession. Usually we think of dealers and pushers’ as seedy and violent people operating on the fringes of society. However, from the legal point of view anybody who gives drugs to somebody else is technically a dealer. Money does not even need to be involved for an offence to be committed.
For example, if someone gives an illegal drug to a friend as a present the law still regards this as supply. Similarly if a group of friends pool their money and one of them goes off to get drugs for the others this is also regarded as supplying.
Under the Drugs Act 2005, which came into effect in the UK on 1 January 2006, drug dealers who target schools or get children to act as couriers will face stiffer jail terms.