Khaliq and Anor v HMA was a Scottish criminal case brought in 1983 and decided by the High Court of Justiciary sitting as the Court of Criminal Appeal, in which it was decided that it was an offence at common law to supply materials that were otherwise legal in the knowledge that they would be used for self-harm.
Two shopkeepers in Glasgow were arrested and charged, amongst other offences, with supplying to children ‘glue-sniffing kits’ consisting of a quantity of petroleum-based glue in a plastic bag.
'The Court refused to accept that there was any distinction between supply with knowledge of likely abuse and actual administration of a dangerous substance to a child.
'[1] Said Lord Justice General Emslie: ‘There is ample authority for the view that the wilful and reckless administration of a dangerous substance to another causing injury or death is a crime at common law in Scotland’.
[2] When the case finally came to trial at Glasgow High Court the two were each sentenced to three years’ imprisonment.