The following Statement was made in the House of Commons on Monday
6 December. “With permission, Madam Deputy Speaker, I would like to
make a Statement on the Government’s new 10-year strategy for
addressing illicit drug use, which has been published today.
Illegal drugs inflict devastation on a horrifying scale. The impact
on individuals, families and neighbourhoods is profound. The cost
to society is colossal—running to nearly £20 billion a year in
England...Request free trial
The following Statement was made in the House of Commons on
Monday 6 December.
“With permission, Madam Deputy Speaker, I would like to make a
Statement on the Government’s new 10-year strategy for addressing
illicit drug use, which has been published today.
Illegal drugs inflict devastation on a horrifying scale. The
impact on individuals, families and neighbourhoods is profound.
The cost to society is colossal—running to nearly £20 billion a
year in England alone—but the greatest tragedy is the human cost.
Drugs drive nearly half of all homicides, and a similar
proportion of crimes such as robbery, burglary and theft. More
people die every year as a result of illegal drug use than from
all knife crime and road traffic accidents combined. The county
lines drug-dealing model fuels violence and exploitation. The
need for action could not be clearer. Today, we are setting out
how we will turn that around. Our new strategy From Harm to Hope
is a blueprint for driving drugs out of our cities, towns and
villages, and for ensuring that those affected get the help they
so badly need.
In February 2019, the Government commissioned Professor Dame
Carol Black to conduct an independent review of the issues and
challenges relating to drug misuse. In July, Dame Carol published
the second part of her review. Both parts together formed a call
to action. We accept all of Dame Carol’s key recommendations, and
this strategy sets out our response in full.
The task of gripping the issue cannot be undertaken by any one
department alone. A collective effort is required, which is why
we have developed a whole-system approach, with a focus on three
strategic priorities: first, breaking drug supply chains;
secondly, delivering a world-class treatment and recovery system;
and, thirdly, achieving a significant reduction in demand for
illegal drugs over the next generation. It is a truly
whole-of-government effort that takes in contributions from a
number of my ministerial colleagues. I thank Dame Carol Black for
her thorough reviews and championing of this important
agenda.
I am pleased to tell the House that our strategy is accompanied
by nearly £900 million of dedicated funding. That record level of
investment will bring our total spending on drug enforcement,
treatment and recovery to more than £3 billion over the next
three years. That is unprecedented and a clear signal of our
commitment, and that of the Prime Minister, to addressing the
challenges.
Using that funding, we will mount a relentless and uncompromising
campaign against the violent and exploitative illegal drug
market. That will include: further action to prevent drugs from
entering the country; the disruption of criminal gangs
responsible for drug trafficking and supply; a zero-tolerance
approach to drugs in prisons; and a continued focus on rolling up
county lines, building on the success of our efforts to date.
The county lines phenomenon is one of the most pernicious forms
of criminality to emerge in recent years, which is why we ramped
up activity to dismantle the business model behind that threat.
Since that programme was launched just over two years ago, we
have seen the closure of more than 1,500 county lines, with over
7,400 arrests. Importantly, more than 4,000 vulnerable, often
young, people have been rescued and safeguarded. Those results
speak for themselves, but we will not stop there. By investing
£300 million in throttling the drugs supply chain over the next
three years, we will take a significant stride towards delivering
the objectives of our beating crime plan and levelling-up
agenda.
Tough enforcement action must be coupled with a renewed focus on
breaking the cycle of drug addiction, which is why we are
investing an additional £780 million in creating a world-class
treatment and recovery system. That is the largest ever single
increase in treatment and recovery investment, and the public
will expect to see results—and so do we.
The strategy sets out how the whole-of-government mission aims to
significantly increase the numbers of drug and alcohol treatment
places, and people in long-term recovery from substance
addiction, to reverse the upward trend in drug-related deaths,
and to bolster the crime prevention effort by reducing levels of
offending associated with drug dependency. To achieve that, we
are setting out a clear stance today that addiction is a chronic
condition and that when someone has been drawn into drug
dependency, they should be supported to recover. Of the £780
million, £530 million will be spent on enhancing drug treatment
services, while £120 million will be used to increase the number
of offenders and ex-offenders who are engaged in the treatment
that they need to turn their lives around.
Treatment services are just one part of the support that people
need to sustain a meaningful recovery, so we are investing a
further £68 million for treatment and additional support for
people with a housing need and £29 million for specialised
employment support for people who have experienced drug
addiction. That enhanced spending on drug treatment and recovery
will also help to drive down crime by cutting levels of
drug-related offending.
The harms caused by drug misuse are not distributed evenly across
the country. Although our strategy is designed to deliver for the
country as a whole, it is right that we target our investment so
that the areas with the highest levels of drug use and
drug-related deaths and crime are prioritised. That will be a key
step in levelling up such areas and supporting them to
prosper.
Local partners working together on our long-term ambitions will
be key to the strategy’s success and we will develop a new set of
local and national measures of progress against our key strategic
aims, with clear accountability at national and local levels. We
will also continue to work closely with our partners in the
devolved Administrations to embed collaboration, share good
practice and strengthen our evidence base in this UK-wide
challenge.
The new strategy sets out our immediate priorities while also
highlighting our longer-term goals. We want to see a generational
shift in our society’s attitude towards drugs, which means
reducing the demand for illegal drugs and being utterly
unequivocal about the swift and certain consequences that
individuals will face if they choose to take drugs as part of
their lifestyle. We will improve our methods for identifying
those drugs users and roll out a system of tougher penalties that
they must face.
Unlawful possession of drugs is a crime and we need to be clear
that those who break the law should face consequences for their
actions. That is why our commitment includes going even further
in this mission, with a White Paper next year to ensure that the
penalties for recreational use are tougher and have a clear and
increasing impact. Those penalties must be meaningful for the
individual, which is why we are considering options such as
increased powers to fine individuals, requirements to attend drug
awareness courses, and other reporting requirements and
restrictions on their movement, including—possibly—the
confiscation of passports and driving licences.
Alongside that, our strategy commits to research, innovation and
building a world-leading evidence base to achieve a
once-in-a-generation shift in attitudes and behaviours. A new £5
million cross-government innovation fund and a new research fund
will start that decade-long journey. That will include a review
by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs on how best to
prevent vulnerable people from falling into drug use. A national
drugs summit will be also held in spring next year to bring
together experts, educators, businesses, law enforcement and
government to discuss the issue.
Preventing drug use is always a better route than dealing with
the consequences of harms. The strategy also sets out our
commitment to evaluating mandatory relationships, sex and health
education in schools, and to supporting young people and families
most at risk of substance misuse. The new strategy marks the
start of a journey and we will publish annual reports to track
progress against the ambitions contained in it.
Illegal drugs are the cause of untold misery across our society.
The Government will not stand by while lives are being destroyed.
This is about reducing crime, levelling up our country and,
fundamentally, saving lives. Our new strategy sets out how we
will turn the tide on drug misuse, and I commend this Statement
to the House.”
13:41:00
(Lab)
My Lords, when we discuss the Government’s important new strategy
on drugs, it is worth recalling the horrific statistics behind
it. The cost to the economy is £20 billion just in England, but
the human cost is what truly shocks us all. Drugs drive nearly
half of all homicides, and nearly 3,000 people tragically lost
their lives through drug misuse in England and Wales last year.
The most deprived areas of the country face the most drug-driven
crime and health harms, something I know will shock us all.
County lines drug dealing, involving many young people, fuels
violence and exploitation.
My key question with respect to the new strategy, which we all
want to work, is: how will the Government ensure that this
strategy works? How will they drive the strategy forward? What is
the local mechanism for the delivery of the strategy? In other
words, how do we turn the rhetoric of the strategy into
reality?
The Government’s Statement says that they accept all Dame Carol
Black’s recommendations, which is very welcome, but she also
posed a question about why we are in this dreadful situation. She
says, and we should learn from this:
“Drug misuse is at tragically destructive levels in this country
… Funding cuts have left treatment and recovery services on their
knees. Commissioning has been fragmented, with little
accountability … partnerships … have deteriorated. The workforce
is depleted … and demoralised.”
That is from the strategy document on which the Government have
based their work, so never has a new 10-year plan been more
needed, although the starting point has to be a reversal of what
has been the case and how the problems so graphically highlighted
by Dame Carol Black will be reversed.
Specifically, can the Minister confirm that all the spending
required by Dame Carol Black’s recommendations will be met? For
example, are all the 54,000 new treatment places she advocates to
be funded? Are the new family hubs the Government have announced
part of this drugs strategy?
The need to tackle county lines, as highlighted in the Statement,
is crucial, so can the Minister update us on progress on this?
The Government have said that 1,500 county lines have been
closed. What does that mean? Is it the shutting down of a phone
number or the closure of a county gang line?
The Statement also talks of the police and criminal justice
system. How are we going to drive up prosecutions for drug
offences, which have fallen over the past 10 years, with
prosecutions down 36% and convictions down 43%?
The real focused effort has to be on the victims, so how are we
going to recruit more front-line drug workers? How will we
co-ordinate the work of local partners out there on the street?
How will we support our schools as they seek to divert their
students from harm?
We all want the new drugs strategy to work. Supply chains have to
be cracked down on, the implicit tolerance of so-called
recreational drug use has to be challenged and criminals have to
be prosecuted, but there also need to be effective, co-ordinated
drug treatment programmes. So can the Minister confirm that at
the heart of the Government’s proposals there will be new,
properly funded, co-ordinated drug treatment programmes that
divert people from illegal suppliers?
Drugs shatter communities. They shatter the lives of many people,
including so many of our young people—often, but not always, some
of the most deprived. We have to break this cycle of violence and
abuse. It will require investment, co-ordination, treatment,
prosecutions, education and a real effort delivered locally but
driven from the centre. Let us hope that this strategy can
deliver it because the problem of drug abuse and misuse is all
around us, along with the associated human misery. We must do
more. Let us hope that the drug strategy, so good on paper,
becomes the reality that we all want it to be on the ground.
(LD)
My Lords, noble Lords will know that when you follow the
Opposition Front Bench on a Statement you are concerned that you
might have your thunder stolen, but as we are talking about drugs
there was no danger of that today.
The Statement sets out the impact of the illegal drug trade on
individuals, families, and the economy, and the noble Lord,
, has reinforced that. What
assessment have the Government made of what the impact would be
if there was a regulated market for cannabis, for example? What
evidence is there from other parts of the world? Did the Minister
see, for example, the documentary authored by the noble Lord,
, the former Commissioner of
the Metropolitan Police, whom the Government often rely upon to
support their position, where his conclusion from looking at how
such a policy operates in the United States called for a
feasibility study into how such an approach could be adopted in
the UK? In particular, he noted the marginal impact on drug use
and the positive impact on tax income, providing resources for
community policing and drug rehabilitation programmes. Does the
Minister think there could be similar benefits to the UK?
The Statement talks about “a blueprint for driving drugs out of
our cities, towns and villages”, but the so-called war on drugs
has failed to have any impact on the demand for and use of
illegal drugs. There has been temporary success in taking out
county lines, which are soon replaced by others, temporary
success in arresting drug dealers, who are soon replaced by
rivals, and temporary success in occasionally seizing large
quantities of drugs, which are dwarfed by the huge quantities of
drugs that get through to users, all of which demonstrate that
these so-called victories are pyrrhic. The noble Lord, , has already asked about what
progress has been made on county lines. What evidence is there of
a net reduction in county lines?
Does the Minister think the sight of the Prime Minister dressed
as a police officer, as we saw on Monday, looking like Paddington
Bear in fancy dress, is likely to strike terror into the hearts
of drug dealers? “Tough enforcement action”, to quote the
Statement—attempting to control the supply of drugs when demand
for drugs continues to grow—is completely the wrong approach. It
was the wrong approach at the time of prohibition in America in
the 1920s and it is now. Does the Minister think that, instead of
tough enforcement action, a similar approach to that taken with
alcohol—a system of regulation and control to mitigate the harms
caused—is what we need in relation to drugs other than
alcohol?
We need to focus on demand. Behind the smokescreen of Paddington
Bear against the drug dealers, there is some welcome news on that
front in this Statement. Increased funding—in fact, the majority
of the increase —is to support drug-dependent people to move from
chronic use into recovery.
Dame Carol Black’s review called for an additional £552 million a
year by year 5, on top of the baseline annual expenditure of £680
million from the public health grant, to provide a full range of
high-quality drug treatment and recovery services. The Government
are providing £530 million over three years—less than Carol Black
was asking for in year 5 alone. In fact, Dame Carol asked for
£119 million extra in year 1, £231 million extra in year 2 and
£396 million extra in year 3, a total of £746 million, against
the £530 million promised in the Statement. That £746 million can
be achieved within the budget announced by the Government, but
only if the majority of the £300 million the Government are
putting into enforcement is diverted into treatment, where it
would be far more effectively spent. Will the Government consider
reallocating the budget even further in favour of treatment?
When the Labour Government moved cannabis from a class C to a
class B controlled drug, with harsher penalties for possession
and supply, there was no impact on cannabis use. Later, when the
media covered the fact that excessive use of extremely strong,
genetically modified cannabis, particularly by young people,
could have serious health impacts on users, cannabis use
declined. Does the Minister not agree that the evidence shows
that a health-based approach, where demand is reduced by
informing users of the danger and where the supply and strength
of the drugs is controlled, is likely to be far more successful
than continuing the failed and pointless war on drugs?
(CB)
My Lords—oh, I am so sorry.
The Minister of State, Home Office () (Con)
I am looking forward to hearing from the noble Baroness; I think
I know what she is going to say.
I will respond to the noble Lords, and . On the impact—the question of
what the problem is—I think most people would agree that illegal
drugs inflict some devastating effects on a quite horrifying
scale. The cost to society is colossal, running to about £20
billion a year. There were almost 3,000 deaths relating to drug
misuse in 2020. This represents two-thirds of registered drug
poisoning deaths and accounts for 52.3 deaths per million people.
Heroin-related deaths in England have more than doubled since
2012 and make up the largest proportion of drug misuse deaths at
45%.
In 2020 alone, referrals of children suspected to be victims of
county lines—I will get on to that shortly—increased by 31%.
Drugs drive nearly half of all homicides and a similar proportion
of acquisitive crimes such as robbery, burglary and theft. More
than 3 million adults reported using drugs in England and Wales
in the last year, and more than one in three 15 year-olds report
having ever taken drugs.
The noble Lord, , asked whether we had done an
assessment on the impact of a regulated market for cannabis. I do
not think we have. Our position on cannabis remains the same as
the last time I spoke about this, but if I have anything new to
add I will let him know.
On the additional three-year investment from April next year, the
total is £900 million. There is a £300 million three-year Home
Office investment, and we commit to making up to £145 million of
funding available for county lines—as I said, I will get on to
that in a second. There is £533 million—more than half a billion
pounds—for DHSC to increase and improve treatment services, £120
million for MoJ for drug treatment and probation services, £68
million for DLUHC for treatment and support in England for those
with a housing need, and £21 million for DWP to roll out
individual employment support across all local authorities in
England. As noble Lords can see, it is a cross-Whitehall
effort—across six departments, in fact. The noble Lord, , talked about co-ordinated
programmes. He is absolutely right: if we are operating across
six departments, we must certainly have a co-ordinated
approach.
The noble Lord asked whether the statistic of 1,500 county lines
being shut down means we have caught 1,500 criminals or just that
1,500 phone numbers have been taken out of circulation. In the
last two years, our county lines programme has delivered more
than 1,500 lines closed, more than 7,400 arrests, £4.3 million in
cash and significant quantities of drugs seized, and more than
4,000 vulnerable people safeguarded. It means that 1,500 active
county deal lines have been closed and found to remain out of
use, which is good news. Through our programme we will continue
to focus on arresting and charging the line holder and securing
criminal justice outcomes to ensure that we put offenders behind
bars. The National County Lines Coordination Centre determines
that a line is closed when there is evidence that the controlling
gang is no longer capable of distributing drugs using that
telephone number, with check-backs to ensure that the telephone
number remains out of use.
The noble Lord also asked me how we would measure ourselves and
what progress looks like. By 2024 we expect the
whole-of-government mission to have prevented nearly 1,000
deaths, reversing the upward trend in drug deaths for the first
time in a decade. We expect it to have delivered a phased
expansion of treatment capacity, with at least 54,500 new
high-quality treatment places, which would be an increase of 20%,
including 21,000 places for opiate and crack users, delivering
53% of opiate and crack users into treatment. We expect at least
7,500 more treatment places for people either sleeping rough or
at immediate risk of sleeping rough, which would be a 33%
increase on current numbers. We expect to provide a treatment
place for every offender with an addiction, because the two are
so often linked.
We also expect that this strategy will have contributed to the
prevention of 750,000 crimes, including 140,000 neighbourhood
crimes, through increases in drug treatment. We expect it to have
closed over 2,000 more county lines through our relentless and
robust action to break the model and bring down the gangs running
these illegal lines, and to have delivered 6,400 major and
moderate disruptions—that would be a 20% increase —against the
activities of organised criminals, including arresting
influential suppliers, targeting their finances and dismantling
their supply chains. These are the ambitions on which we should
be judged.
On the noble Lord’s point that we are simply reversing the cuts
made since 2010, the strategy is underpinned by a record
investment of nearly £900 million of additional funding over the
three years, as I said, taking the total investment in combating
drugs to £3 billion over the next three years. It sets out our
landmark whole-of-government approach to tackling drug misuse,
with more leading departments than ever before.
The noble Lord, , asked about county lines, on
which we are already delivering real impact. In the past two
years, our county lines programme has delivered more than 1,500
lines closed, as I told the noble Lord, , with 7,400 arrests and £4.3
million in cash. The latest national co-ordination centre
assessment of county lines shows a reduction in the total number
of potentially active lines, an important point, with numbers
reported to have fallen from between 800 and 1,000 in 2019-20 to
600 in 2021. There is more to be done on county lines programmes
through this strategy. We will be investing up to £145 million to
tackle the most violent and exploitative distribution model seen
yet. We will continue funding the National County Lines
Coordination Centre to provide that vital national strategic
oversight. We will also focus on the largest exporter areas,
alongside dedicated surge funding for local police forces to
tackle county lines and grip the transport network through the
dedicated British Transport Police’s county lines taskforce,
invest in new technology including ANPR, and fund provision of
specialist support for vulnerable children, young people and
families involved in county lines activity.
We do not have plans for decriminalisation of drug possession
generally. Our approach to drugs remains clear. We must prevent
drug misuse in our communities and support people through
treatment and recovery, which is one of the main planks of the
strategy.
14:02:00
(CB)
My Lords, in the absence of any evidence-based drug policies in
this country, which would include heroin treatment centres linked
to staffed consumption rooms to tackle very effectively polydrug
use and heroin use, and in the absence of readily available
medical cannabis to about 1 million people who need it—I could go
on—can the Minister confirm that the small increase in funding
for treatment envisaged in this strategy will not, even in the
third year, fully compensate for the cuts in spending on
treatment? Taking into account, as the Government tend not to do,
the cuts to Home Office and probation service funding of
treatment, as well as the funding from local authorities, can the
Minister confirm that even in year 3, when the largest increase
will come into play, we will not even get back to all those years
ago, before the cuts began? As the Minister knows, Carol Black
was prohibited from looking at any change in the law, and it is
only with change in the law that one will achieve good
evidence-based policies on drugs.
(Con)
I think that the noble Baroness knows, even before asking the
question, that we do not intend to change the law. However, I
thought that she might be quite pleased by the focus of one of
the pillars, which is treatment and support for drug users. She
will also not be surprised to know that we do not have any plans
to introduce drug consumption rooms. Anyone running them would be
committing a range of offences including possession of a
controlled drug and being concerned in the supply of a controlled
drug. We support a range of evidence-based approaches to reduce
the health-related harms of drug misuse, such as maintaining—oh,
I cannot find the page in my notes, so I will get back to her on
this in a second.
(GP)
My Lords, I will follow on from the contribution by the noble
Lord, , reflecting on the long-term
failure of decades of the so-called war on drugs. I imagine that
the Minister is aware of the 2005 report from the Downing Street
strategy unit. It concluded that, to have a tangible effect on
drug flows in this country, 60% to 80% of drugs coming in would
have to be seized. The seizure rate has never been higher than
20%. This Statement talks about tougher enforcement action. Does
the Minister still agree with those figures from 2005 and, with
this tougher enforcement action, what estimate do the Government
have of the percentage of drug flows that will be stopped?
(Con)
May I finish answering the noble Baroness, Lady Meacher? We want
to maintain the availability of needle and syringe programmes to
prevent blood-borne infections and widen the availability of
Naloxone to prevent overdose deaths. I do not know the document
to which the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett of Manor Castle,
refers. I went through some of the figures for drug deaths with
the noble Lord, . We will not go soft on some of
the penalties that we have for drug use and drug dealing. As I
told the noble Baroness, Lady Meacher, the focus of one of the
pillars is helping people with treatment and rehabilitation.
(Non-Afl)
My Lords, notwithstanding the complexity of the current crisis,
as detailed by the noble Lords, and , and the noble Baroness, Lady
Bennett, I welcome this strategy. I have raised the matter of the
severe cuts in services over the past decade since I led
Addaction, a national pilot by Breaking the Cycle, a project
funded by the Zurich Community Trust that invested nearly £1
million over five years to work successfully with 500 families.
That is how much it costs when you are doing it right, as is
acknowledged on page 55 of the strategy, which is about the
complexity of the services required. I hope that the strategy
that is to be implemented will add hope for people who have been
waiting for services. Can the Minister and her department not
reinvent the wheel for services which are already out there
waiting to be called, by the Government and local authorities, to
make themselves available to very vulnerable families?
(Con)
My Lords, I agree most wholeheartedly. It is not about
reinventing wheels but about seeing what works, and about what
new interventions might help people to rebuild their lives. There
is all this talk about decriminalisation, but drugs destroy
lives—we have all seen those effects.
(Lab)
I welcome the report and congratulate the Government on being
prepared to set out a strategy. I can understand why some people
are unhappy about part of it. Alcohol is quoted as the great
place to go for a wonderful life with wonderful regulation and
without all the consequential problems that you have with an
unregulated market. All I can say is that, if we had a strategy
on alcohol that set out some of the targets that we have here, I
would almost think about joining the Government.
I declare an interest, in that I am the co-chair of the All-Party
Parliamentary Group on the Twelve Steps Recovery Programme for
Addiction, which covers not just alcohol but gambling and drugs
and a whole range of things. We have already had an intervention
in the Commons, and we have been offered a ministerial meeting
over the recovery part of the report—over whether you are
prepared to spend more time trying to get people totally sober,
because we feel that the effort to try to get recovery and
sobriety in so many areas has been falling so short.
In particular, we have harm reduction with methadone, and the
rumour is that we are now spending £1 billion a year on
methadone; it is very difficult to get to the real figures, but
the story is that it is £1 billion a year. We did not have
methadone available at all in 2006, when it first came around.
How many people have secured sobriety during that period? How
much work has been done to try to get them sober and off the
drugs—because it is a drug, and it has its consequences. People
die from methadone. That is the kind of research that needs to be
done—then we can try to look for adequate resourcing.
I am grateful that the Minister has set out targets. Those of us
who want to see recovery will be trying to keep her nose to the
grindstone on it, so we deliver on them. I am sorry that we do
not have the noble Lord, , with us today, because
much of this problem of course ends in jail. That is where we
need more openness in jails, to admit people who are willing to
assist people to get recovery. We have found with the 12-step
programme—
Noble Lords
Question!
(Lab)
Sorry, we need a full debate on this. My question is on the 12
steps. Will the Government commit themselves to apply them more
fully than they have done in the past, and will they do a proper
record of the work that is done and research on that?
(Con)
I am very pleased to have heard from the noble Lord, Lord Brooke,
who equates the harms from alcohol with the harms from drugs.
Socially, in many cases, the harms from alcohol are worse,
because it is so freely available. He is right that quite often
these things end in prison—whether it is drugs or alcohol. He
talked about the ministerial meeting, and I would be very happy
to join him in that if he wishes—and I would also be very happy
if he wanted to join the Government. It is not my call,
though.
The original impetus for a new strategy came from Dame Carol
Black’s review of drugs, which recommended the setting up of this
cross-government drugs unit, responsible for co-ordinating and
delivering a drugs strategy. Of course, our strategy goes wider
than just the health harms—although the noble Lord’s point about
alcohol stands just as much. That said, I look forward I hope to
joining him, and take on board all the points that he makes.
(Lab Co-op)
While the situation in England and Wales is bad, it is even worse
in Scotland, which has the highest level of drugs deaths in
Europe. The SNP Government have always tried to blame this on
Westminster, saying that it is because the Government here refuse
to change the law—but, of course, that ignores the fact that the
law is the same in Scotland, England and Wales. What are the UK
Government doing to counteract this propaganda that comes from
the “Comical Alis” up in Scotland?
(Con)
From some of the contributions that we have heard today, clearly
some of the propaganda works. Drug consumption rooms are in
Scotland, and they do not work. Scotland has a huge drugs
problem, and its strategy clearly has not worked. This is not a
strategy for the whole UK but aligned to the devolved and
reserved policies led by the six contributing departments; we
continue to work with devolved authorities, so certain aspects
cover England, Scotland and Wales. I am very glad that the noble
Lord mentioned it, because he is absolutely right.
(Lab)
Is there going to be any detailed work on looking at the
relationship between violent crime and the constant and steady
use of marijuana, particularly the refined types of
marijuana?
(Con)
I can tell the noble Lord from my own personal experience that I
have seen some horrific outcomes from the use of synthetic
marijuana, and not only on children, with the effect on the
growing brain leading to schizophrenia and other things. It can
also lead on to the development of paranoia and all sorts of
other things, including violence. I completely agree with the
noble Lord that some of the linkages are quite clear. Of course,
it is what it goes on to develop to, with the use of other drugs
as well.
(GP)
My Lords, the pre-briefings in the Sunday paper, before the
Statement was delivered in the other place, talked about
middle-class drug users losing their passports. When we actually
look at the Statement, we can see that it refers to there being
consequences, and it talks about restrictions on movement. It
does not explicitly talk about passports or, indeed, driver’s
licences, as was pre-briefed. Can the Minister tell me whether
that is part of something that the Government are considering
and, furthermore, whether they have considered the fact that some
people have passports for more than one nationality, so people
who only have British passports would suffer further from this?
Furthermore, how might not having access to ID such as driver’s
licences and passports affect people who have problematic drug
use and are struggling to get their life on track?
(Con)
Well, I guess if you do not have a driver’s licence or a passport
you cannot have it taken off you. We are considering a wide range
of interventions on this. I read the article about the
middle-class drug use. If there is anything I could wish for, it
is that any middle-class people using drugs at weekends who think
that it is a victimless crime would realise that that is
absolutely wrong. It causes untold misery—and if there was a
public service campaign that could be put out, I would love to
see something like that.
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