The Minister for Crime and Policing (Kit Malthouse) 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...Request free
trial
The Minister for Crime and Policing ()
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
that 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 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.
18:36:00
(Croydon Central) (Lab)
I thank the Minister for advance sight of his statement. Over the
last 20 years, we have seen a stark pattern of class A drug use.
Between 1996 and 2011, the use of class A drugs was on a downward
trend year on year. Since 2011, the use of class A drugs has
increased every year. Drug deaths are at an all-time high and we
have seen the emergence of increasingly violent and exploitative
gangs that use technology that is way ahead of the Government to
groom kids and sell them drugs.
The question Dame Carol Black answered in her review on drugs was
why that has happened, and her conclusions were damning. We have
gone backwards over the last 10 years, with drug abuse up and
drug treatment down. She said that
“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.”
I could go on.
There has never been a greater need for a 10-year plan to try to
undo the 10 years of damage caused by Conservative Governments.
In his statement, the Minister talked of ambitious plans, but
what is missing is any recognition that the policies followed by
Conservative Governments over the last 11 years have caused such
damage. The truth is that the Government have dropped the ball on
drugs and on crime.
I have been going round the country over the last few weeks and I
have seen the damage that has been done. Communities of good
people with hopes and dreams have been invaded by serious
organised crime that trashes our streets and preys on our young
by offering false hope of money and a future. There are
two-for-one deals on Insta: “Introduce a friend and get your
drugs half price. You help us, we’ll help you.” Thousands of
children at risk of abuse are taking a punt on their futures at
the hands of thugs, and whole communities are having to deal with
antisocial behaviour and the crime that follows drug addiction.
This is Tory Britain.
I will not join the Prime Minister’s fanfare about the biggest
investment in a generation, because this Government have overseen
the biggest failures of a generation; and I mourn the loss of
life. Instead, today I hope that the Government mean what they
say, and want to welcome the strategy—at last—and ask some
questions of the Minister.
I welcome the funding, the commitment to 54,000 new treatment
places, the closure of the 2,000 lines we hope to close and the
ambition to save 1,000 lives, but will neighbourhood policing be
brought back to the levels we saw in 2010—so crucial for catching
those who sell drugs in our communities—because we know that only
400 of the first tranche of 6,000 officers are in frontline
roles? Will the 50% of police community support officers we have
lost be replaced?
Can the Minister explain why he is not funding treatment to the
level that Dame Carol Black has called for? We count a shortfall
of over £200 million. Will the Minister look at the new offence
of child criminal exploitation, accept Labour’s suggestion of
putting modern slavery offenders on a register similar to the sex
offenders register, and look again at all the amendments we have
tabled to the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill to impose
longer sentences for adults who involve children in criminal
enterprise?
While this Government have dithered on drugs, those selling and
producing them have been working hard. They have new,
exploitative ways of pushing their products around the country,
and they have chilling ways of advertising them online to our
children. A shocking 58% of 18-year-olds reported seeing drugs
being sold online, often via Instagram and Snapchat.
Can the Minister confirm that the statistic that the Government
have shut down over 1,500 deal lines actually means they have
taken or shut down an individual phone or phone number, not that
they have necessarily caught the groomers and the exploiters?
Most criminal gangs will keep copies of their customer list that
can be sold for thousands of pounds. I have heard the police talk
about using an order to force a communications provider to
disconnect a device or phone number, and the line was back up in
an hour. How many actual networks have been shut down?
What is the Minister doing to recruit more analysts? What is he
doing to work with social media companies, which should not allow
the sale of drugs on their networks, to get ahead of the
criminals online? How are the telecommunication companies
involved in his plan?
Finally, prosecutions for drug offences are down 36% since 2010
and convictions down 43%. This is alongside an overall drop in
prosecutions since 2010—down 40%. Why has this happened, and what
is the Minister doing about that? All around this country, people
know what impact drugs are having on our communities and they
want something done about it. This statement and this drugs plan,
however the Minister presents them, are not about levelling up;
they are compensation for cuts over the last decade, for lives
lost and for communities that have had to bear the brunt of the
Government’s complacency on drugs.
I am afraid that, while I obviously welcome some of the hon.
Lady’s pleasure at what we are doing in the plan and I recognise,
as she does, the need for some action, these exchanges between us
have a slightly tiresome pattern, if I may say so, which is that
I announce some new initiative and the hon. Lady starts talking
about the events of 12 years ago, somehow implying that we are
not really doing anything at all. Even if I accepted her premise
about the pattern over the last 10 years—which, for the record, I
do not—it would be refreshing, would it not, if she and her party
were willing to accept some culpability for the financial
situation that we inherited well over a decade ago. Somebody had
to sort out the finances of this country, as we had to in 1979 as
well, and if we had not done that and sorted out the money side
of it then, I hesitate to imagine what financial situation we
would be in now.
While the hon. Lady points to the pattern of consumption, she
strangely seems to forget that drug consumption now is well below
the level it was in many of the years of the previous Labour
Government. In fact, consumption of class A did not really start
to turn in this country till about 2014, not 2011, as she pointed
out. That was because the industry, as it were, or the business
of drug distribution reacted as any business would: it found
different products and new ways to distribute, made products
cheaper and stronger, and started to exploit people in a way we
had not seen before.
We commissioned Dame Carol Black to do this study. My right hon.
Friend the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, who has
just left the Chamber, commissioned it when he was the Home
Secretary, because we recognised the alarm being caused in
neighbourhoods, towns, cities and villages across the country,
and we wanted to do something about it. That plan has now
resulted in our strategy that we are publishing today, and we
firmly believe it will make a big difference over the next
decade.
The hon. Lady should not imagine—and I slightly take umbrage at
her accusation—that we have sat on our hands more recently. As
you will know, Mr Deputy Speaker, over the last two years that I
have been in this job, I have dedicated myself to the Prime
Minister’s command that we should roll up county lines. We have
closed 1,500 deal lines, which has resulted in 7,400 arrests and,
importantly, over 4,000 young people have been rescued from the
clutches of those gangs. [Interruption.] I hope she, and her
colleagues muttering at me, will welcome those results and,
frankly, congratulate the police on manufacturing a modus
operandi of dealing with these gangs that is often dismantling
them permanently.
The three big exporting forces of London, West Midlands and
Merseyside have seen significant investment by the Government
over the last two years to deal with this problem, and as a
result, we have seen big falls. If we look at a county like
Norfolk, only 18 months ago it had well over 100 county lines,
and the number of county lines in that county can be counted on
the fingers of two hands. There have been great results across
the country, and I am disappointed that the hon. Lady has not
recognised that. So the idea that somehow there was some
dithering on drugs is completely unfair. We have closed down a
large number of deal lines, but there is still a long way to go.
We think we are down to about 600 active lines now across the
country, and that over the next two years, with the investment we
have put in place, we will be able to drive them down even
further.
The hon. Lady did ask an interesting question about the role of
telecommunications companies and the use of technology. One of
the things we have learned over the last two or three years is
that these businesses, as it were, of distributing drugs are
uniquely vulnerable because of their use of telecoms to
distribute, market and communicate with their customers. We will
be talking to telecommunications companies about how they can
help us.
On the hon. Lady’s final accusation that this is not about
levelling up, we know that the impact of drugs has been
disproportionate across the country. The north-east, for example,
suffers much more than any other part of England. Again,
Blackpool, where we have put a Project ADDER and where we are
doing significant work, has the highest number of drug deaths in
England. There is a disproportionality out there, and we are
determined to address it. We will start our work in those kinds
of areas, and that will be a key part of our levelling-up agenda
in the years to come.
Mr Deputy Speaker ( )
Order. If everybody could resume their seats. As you can see,
there is a lot of interest in this. We still have three other
bits of business following this so, please, no statements—just
ask questions, so I can get in as many people as I possibly
can.
(South Swindon) (Con)
May I commend my right hon. Friend on his statement and on the
drugs strategy that he and I worked on together? In particular, I
commend Dame Carol Black’s recommendations 17 to 19 relating to
the Ministry of Justice—on the treatment of prisoners in custody,
arrangements for release and, indeed, the issue of a co-ordinator
role in the probation service to join up those vital support
services. Will he make sure that those provisions in particular
are carried out as soon as possible?
My right hon. and learned Friend was pivotal in the development
and thinking around the plan, particularly from a Ministry of
Justice point of view, and I am very grateful that he was, given
his wide experience. He is quite right that while we can put in
place high-quality treatment, it needs to be consistent across
the country, particularly for those leaving the secure estate,
but it also needs to be part of a jigsaw of recovery that
includes housing and employment. The argument he used to make is
that for success we need three pillars—a job, a house and a
friend—and for a drug addict, that friend can often be a
therapist, and we believe the same.
(Cumbernauld, Kilsyth
and Kirkintilloch East) (SNP)
I thank the Minister for his statement and his letter, and of
course we all desperately want to see the consumption of drugs
and the devastation he referred to tackled urgently. Aspects of
the strategy are welcome, including acceptance of Dame Carol
Black’s recommendations—I think he said “all”, but perhaps he
could clarify that—as well as funding for treatment, including
harm reduction; more use of diversion from prosecution; work to
tackle organised crime; and a commitment to collaboration with
the devolved Governments.
However, I do not think the Minister will be shocked that I want
to push him again on the need for overdose prevention facilities.
I appreciate that he does not share my keenness for them, but
given there is strong evidence from other countries that they
help to reduce harm significantly, surely there must now be some
trials conducted in the UK to confirm whether they can help here,
too. That would be exactly strengthening the evidence base he has
referred to a couple of times in his statement. Can I also push
him on drugs checking facilities and on the regulation of pill
presses? What are the implications of his strategy for these
policies, because as far as I can see, it is silent on them?
If the Minister cannot answer those questions positively, then
what really is different about this strategy compared with the
other six that have been produced in the last quarter of a
century? Is he not at risk of recycling the failed war on drugs
in relentlessly ramping up punishment when the Home Office’s own
research shows that that does not work? Is the UK not at risk of
being left behind by the evidence-led public health approaches
being followed by many other countries across Europe, north
America and further afield?
Finally, the Minister may be aware of the campaign to tackle
stigma launched today by the Scottish Government, recognising
that people struggling with a drug problem should get support and
treatment like those with other health conditions. Will he agree
that tackling such stigma is vital in order to encourage people
to seek the help that they need?
I obviously recognise the hon. Gentleman’s concern in this area,
given the scale of the problem in Scotland, which is by far and
away the worst in the western world. I know that the party of
which he is a member, and the Government in place in Scotland,
have relatively recently made a similar investment along the same
lines in health treatment.
On drug consumption rooms, I have always said that my mind is
open to the evidence, and I am in correspondence with my
counterpart, the drugs Minister in the Scottish Government, about
what that evidence might be. As far as I can see thus far, it is
patchy. It is very hard to divine the difference between an
overall health approach on drug consumption and the specific
impact of a drug consumption room. However, we continue to be in
dialogue with the Scottish Government, as we are on pill presses
and, indeed, on drug checking. My commitment to the drugs
Minister in Scotland was to continue that dialogue and see what
we could do.
On overdose prevention centres, at the moment, under current
legislation, we believe there are a number of offences that would
be committed in the running of one of those rooms, and that is a
legislative obstacle to their running. In the end, though, the
biggest impact we have seen in all parts of the world that have
been successful in this area has been from a widespread
investment in health and rehabilitation. I hope that the Scottish
Government will support the efforts of my hon. Friend the Member
for Moray (), the leader of the Scottish
Conservatives, who has been very concerned about this issue and
has been driving a campaign forward in the Scottish
Parliament.
On stigma, I am afraid I do not necessarily agree. While we want
to work closely to make sure that those who are addicted to class
A drugs get the treatment they need, we need to be careful not to
send confusing signals to those people who otherwise indulge in
class A drugs and drive a huge amount of trade but do not regard
themselves as addicted. I will be interested to see what the
progress is in Scotland.
The key thing in all the home nations is that, as we roll out our
various policies, we learn from each other. My pledge is that I
will continue the home nations summits, which I have been holding
regularly, most recently a couple of months ago in Belfast, to
make sure that we do exactly that.
(Winchester) (Con)
I think this new long-term strategy looks excellent. It is a
thoughtful piece of work, it is funded, and I think it strikes
the right balance between head and heart, so well done to the
Government. Chapter 3 deals with support for families and
mentions “family-based” treatment, particularly where
“parents are themselves dependent on drugs or alcohol.”
Could the Minister expand on that a little? Is that through the
new family hubs that were announced in the Budget? Is it through
local authorities? Will he just say a bit more about that,
please?
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his words of encouragement.
It has been an enormous effort across the whole of Government to
put this plan together. I congratulate my team, and I thank my
fellow Ministers who have worked on putting it in place. My hon.
Friend is quite right that we need to focus very much on drugs in
the home. The funding that is put in place, although it is routed
through the Department of Health and Social Care, will go to
local authorities, which will then be able to design their own
services locally to fit their own requirements and demographic.
Some of that might be in the home, some of it might be
residential, and some of it might be on an out-patient basis. We
do not want to be prescriptive at this stage, but this will be
channelled through local authorities, which can design services
appropriately.
(Knowsley) (Lab)
I welcome the measures set out in the Government’s new strategy
and the funding that goes with it. I particularly welcome the
emphasis on disrupting supplies and dealing with those who
already have addiction problems. One piece of the jigsaw that
seems to be missing, although I may have missed it, is targeting
of so-called drug barons and the extent to which money laundering
is going on in this country, always through legitimate businesses
and increasingly, I think, through some private landlords. Will
the Minister say a word about how the Government intend to tackle
that specific problem?
The right hon. Gentleman puts his finger on one of the key
issues. One of the issues that I have discussed with the police
is that when we arrest people, they ought to be high-quality
arrests of people who have unique skills, so that when they are
taken out of circulation, specific damage is done to the business
of drugs. I have likened it, in this festive season, to that
Christmas cracker joke: “How do you kill a circus? Go for the
juggler.” We need to make sure in each of these groups that the
juggler is dealt with on a systemic basis, but key to doing that
is following the money.
The right hon. Gentleman will be pleased to hear that, with the
Minister for Security and Borders, my right hon. Friend the
Member for East Hampshire (), who is here on the Front
Bench and leads on economic crime, we have an operation under way
with the National Crime Agency called Project Plutus, which is
about both intercepting that money and, critically, learning
about the flows of money, within the UK—whether that is into
property assets or elsewhere—and internationally. If we can cut
the money flow, then the business itself becomes pointless and
hopefully it will disappear.
(Wokingham) (Con)
I strongly welcome the Minister’s plan and intent, and I wish him
every success with it. On that money point, will he make it clear
to the people making these big profits that the state will pursue
them to take the money back?
We absolutely will, and our plan contains an ambition to
significantly increase the denial of assets to the criminal
fraternity. We know that this business, if it is a business—a
horrible business—is prosecuted for profit. It is all about the
money, so if we can make it a low-return, high-risk business, we
will deter a lot of people from getting involved.
(Manchester, Withington)
(Lab)
I welcome the focus in the strategy on treatment and recovery;
£780 million is a significant investment, and I commend the
Government for that. On supply and demand, I fear we are being
offered an enhanced version of the same general approach that has
failed for the last 50 years, and I am sad to say that it will
fail for the next 10 years. On drug consumption rooms, the
Minister said that the evidence is “patchy”. Surely, then, this
is the time for some proper trials and pilots so that we can get
the evidence. There is a lot of talk in the strategy about
evidence; surely the Government have a duty now to allow some of
those trials to get the evidence that these drug consumption
rooms—I prefer to call them overdose prevention centres—can save
lives.
As I say, I think there is a big difference with this plan, which
is that on the supply side we are very much coming at this from
an economic point of view. We have done an enormous amount of
work to examine the nature of the business. We are not
necessarily looking at the individuals involved, who very often
are replaced if they are arrested—sometimes within hours—but
fundamentally at the structure of the business, and interfering
with it in a way that means it does not reoccur, using the method
of distribution and communication against the business to make
sure that we stamp it out. We are showing success across the
country, particularly on county lines.
On drug consumption rooms, as I say, we remain open to evidence.
We are looking at the evidence that has been presented by the
Scottish Government, and we will respond to the Minister there
shortly. However, as I say, even if that evidence was
compelling—I am not convinced that it is at the moment—there are
legislative obstacles that mean that we have no option for the
moment but to focus on health investment and making sure that we
ramp up treatment and rehabilitation, which we have seen have
effect across the world.
(Reigate) (Con)
I welcome the commitment in the strategy to building a
world-leading evidence base, and the funding of it, with a
cross-Government innovation fund to test and learn. Given our
desire to become world leaders in this space, will the Minister
confirm that that evidence will include international examples
and evidence?
I am more than happy to confirm that we will look anywhere in the
world where there are good ideas that are having impact and
effect, but the evidence has to be properly evaluated, properly
peer reviewed and scientifically proven, because we are dealing
with people’s lives here. Across the world, we have seen
unintended consequences from measures taken on narcotics, which
we do not want to repeat. I know that my hon. Friend has done a
lot of work in this area and that he is very well informed. I
hope that, over the months and years to come, we can communicate
regularly on this issue.
(Stretford and Urmston)
(Lab)
The Minister will know that many women end up in the criminal
justice system because of substance misuse and addiction, and
often exploitation. Can he say how the drugs strategy that the
Government have announced today will link to whole-system
approaches to women’s offending, such as we have applied
successfully in Greater Manchester to roll out a programme of
support that enables women to desist or avoid entering the
criminal justice system?
First, all those in the secure estate who have a drug dependency
or drug problem will receive a treatment place. We have made the
commitment that 100% will be covered, and that obviously includes
female offenders. On top of that, we want to ensure that as they
exit the secure estate and rejoin society, they can also access
high-quality treatment places configured to their own
requirements, demographics and geography. It will be down to
local partners to design those services off the back of the
funding that we are providing. Our only ask is for a rigorous
evaluation and results framework in each area of the country to
show that the money we are investing has the desired impact.
(Sleaford and North
Hykeham) (Con)
Sobriety tags—wearable devices that monitor alcohol consumption
in offenders—were trialled first in Lincolnshire and have been
rolled out due to their success in preventing 90% of people from
consuming alcohol while wearing them. Could such an approach be
useful for those taking drugs?
I congratulate my hon. Friend on an extremely good question, and
a very topical one. She will be pleased to hear that this morning
I met the Korean ambassador and that country’s superintendent of
police, with whom we do an awful lot of work, not least on
international money flows. I raised in particular my interest in
the research and invention by a Korean research institute of a
drugs tag—a wearable device that detects drug consumption in
somebody’s sweat. We are very interested in the technology and
have a fund that we can invest in such technological
developments. She is right that, on sobriety ankle tags, we are
seeing 97% compliance, and we think that there is a role for such
checking in drugs.
(Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
(PC)
Diolch yn fawr iawn, Dirprwy Lefarydd. I know and the Minister
knows—we all know—that penalising drug users does not save lives,
and the uncoordinated criminal justice system that we suffer
makes a bad situation worse in Wales, where drug deaths have
increased by 78% in the last 10 years. The devolution of justice
to Wales would allow a whole-system approach to offender
rehabilitation. If that is good enough for London and for
Manchester, when will it be good enough for those families who
presently have to grieve in Wales?
I am afraid that the devolution of justice in Wales would not
achieve the right hon. Lady’s suggested objectives, not least
because the drug supply lines into Wales run from forces in
England—from Liverpool, the west midlands and London. A
co-ordinated approach to the problem is required from a policing
point of view, making sure that we enforce consistently across
the country where we can. My view is that enforcement in
Scotland, for example, is held back by that lack of
co-ordination. We would like to try to improve it. We need to
work more closely together, but we cannot pretend that this
problem affects the home nations separately. We must work
together.
(Cities of London and
Westminster) (Con)
I welcome my right hon. Friend’s 10-year strategy to fight the
evil that is the drugs industry. I particularly welcome the
emphasis on holding professional classes to account for their
actions. They may want to buy their Fairtrade coffee and go to
the farmers’ market to buy organic food, but perhaps they should
spend more time thinking about the cocaine that they buy for
their weekend parties, because that fuels county lines, which is
possibly the worst grooming and safeguarding concern for our
young people. Does he agree that we must treat the drug barons
involved in county lines as predators who are using and grooming
children? Perhaps we should look to put them on the sex
offenders’ register and ensure that they are held to account for
their crimes against children.
I welcome my hon. Friend’s comments. She represents what is sadly
one of the drug epicentres of the country in central London, and
she is right that much of the drug abuse, violence and
degradation is driven by casual, thoughtless use by people who do
not regard themselves as addicted but who are nevertheless
complicit in the violence. In spring next year, we hope to
publish a White Paper with a structure of escalating impositions
on such individuals, which means that we will be as likely to see
a drugs operation outside Lancaster Gate or Bayswater tube
station or in Belgravia as in other parts of the capital to
ensure that we get among those people. She is right that we must
focus very much on those drug barons and put them behind bars if
we possibly can.
(Vauxhall)
(Lab/Co-op)
I associate myself with the comments of the hon. Member for
Cities of London and Westminster (). We do need to clamp down on
those barons who exploit our young people. That includes those
who exploit young girls—they often do not get talked about in the
whole issue of county lines—who are criminally exploited,
gang-raped and sexually assaulted by drug barons; they used them
even during lockdown to push drugs up and down the country.
Will the Minister outline how he will help not just the
Metropolitan police but forces across the country to get the
technology and investment they need to deal with this issue? The
drug barons get smarter every day—it is not just about burner
phones; they adapt their business models day in, day out and are
always one step ahead—so the police need resources now.
I agree with both the hon. Lady and my hon. Friend the Member for
Cities of London and Westminster (). Of the £300 million that we
will be spending, £145 million will be on enhancing and
turbocharging our effort against county lines.
Both hon. Members made a good point about the pernicious nature
of the exploitation perpetrated by these drug dealers on young
people. I hope that they will both be interested to know that
police forces have brought successful prosecutions on the grounds
of modern slavery. It would be good to see a prosecution on the
basis of child grooming, not least because we think it would be
an enormous deterrent to a drug dealer to know they would spend
their time inside on the sex offenders’ wing.
(Kettering) (Con)
I warmly welcome the Government’s 10-year anti-drugs strategy.
Will my right hon. Friend the Minister for Crime and Policing
join me in congratulating Northamptonshire police, which has had
considerable success in recent months and years in busting county
lines drug gangs in and out of Kettering and the county, aided
not least by automatic number plate recognition technology? Can
we have more ANPR so that we can identify the vehicles that the
drugs barons are driving around in?
I am grateful to my hon. Friend. I agree that Northamptonshire
police’s bust a couple of weeks ago was remarkable. It was a huge
one, intercepting drugs valued into the many millions of pounds.
That will have had a massive impact on that particular business
and, I guess, left it vulnerable to those who want to collect the
debts.
My hon. Friend is right that the key to interfering with this
business—it is critical—is gripping the transport network. As I
hope he knows, we have funded a taskforce in the British
Transport police, which every day is intercepting drugs and
money, and young people exploited on the rail network. Our
analysis of ANPR, making sure that we understand movements and
therefore raise the likelihood of a drug interception on the
road, improves every day. I hope he will see that in his
constituency in the months to come.
(Ealing Central and Acton)
(Lab)
A shiny new 10-year strategy sounds good, but the Government also
need to address unfinished business. Three years after the
Minister’s Government legislated for medical cannabis on the NHS,
why have only three prescriptions ever been written for it,
leaving families broke, having shelled out privately to fund
their kids’ amelioration of pain?
That is a matter for the Department of Health and Social Care,
but, where requests have come to me to facilitate the acquisition
of those products for affected families who need them, we have
moved heaven and earth to do so as quickly as we could. The hon.
Lady might be interested to know that we are reaching the end of
a piece of work by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs on
barriers to research and medical exploitation of particular
compounds. I hope that we will be able to publish that soon and
cover some of the regulatory hurdles that she points to.
(Weston-super-Mare) (Con)
I welcome the 10-year strategy’s focus on both prevention and
enforcement as well as treatment. I welcome that it pledges to
implement, I think, all of Dame Carol Black’s excellent
recommendations, but there was one glaring omission in her terms
of reference: any attempt to address the underlying legislative
structure of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. From that moment, we
have seen a burgeoning of the illegal industry, and that is our
current drugs problem. Do the Government have any intention to
address this underlying, much more difficult and intractable
issue?
I understand what my hon. Friend said about the implications of
the Act. At the moment, we do not have any plans to revise it,
but we will bring forward a White Paper in the spring that will
lay out, in particular, where we want to go on dealing with the
overwhelming volume of drug consumption, which is among those who
do not regard themselves as addicted.
(Rochdale) (Lab)
I also welcome the move, if it is genuine, to begin to treat the
serious use of class A drugs as a health, rather than a criminal
justice, problem. That will make a material difference if the
money is there. We know that one driver of criminal gangs is
high-volume cannabis sales that allow the structure to remain
intact. Will the Minister look very seriously at evidence from
Portugal, for example, on using administrative methods, or from
parts of North America or other European countries where cannabis
has been taken out of the drug supply industry? It is radical,
but it may make a real difference.
Our intentions are genuine and the money is there; I hope and
believe that the strategy will make a difference over the next
decade. As I said, we will look at evidence from around the
world. I have to tell the hon. Gentleman, however, that it is
widely accepted that the legalisation of cannabis in California
has been a disaster. Although Portugal has seen the number of
drug deaths drop, drug consumption has risen, and it still does
enforcement very heavily on supply. The picture across the world
definitely needs examination, but I am not sure that it will lead
to the lessons that he outlines.
(North Dorset) (Con)
I know that my right hon. Friend will need no persuading on this
point, but will he set out his view on how the strategy will help
those of us who represent rural constituencies and our rural
communities? Very often, this is seen as an urban problem. He
knows that county lines comes into the small, rural market towns
of North Dorset, as it does into other counties, and missing the
opportunity to nip that problem in the bud would be a huge
omission.
As a rural Member, I have seen the impact of county lines in my
constituency, and my hon. Friend is absolutely right that the
pernicious effect of this method of distribution and marketing is
felt in towns and villages across the land. Drug dealers have
become very entrepreneurial, very crafty and clever in the way
they do business, so we must be as well. I hope that in his
county, in mine and in counties across the country, we will see a
reduction in drug dealing in towns and villages and, as a result,
a reduction in violence and degradation.
(East Kilbride, Strathaven
and Lesmahagow) (SNP)
I refer the House to my entry in the Register of Members’
Financial Interests: I have worked in addiction services and I am
the current chair of the all-party group on the 12 steps recovery
programme for addiction. As the Minister will know, 12 steps
programmes can really augment recovery, with a focus on long-term
maintenance and support. The fantastic thing about them is that
they are absolutely free. Will the Minister agree to meet Lord
Brooke and myself from the all-party group to discuss how we can
work in an integrated way regarding narcotics anonymous and
alcoholics anonymous to help rehabilitation in future?
I certainly will.
(Stoke-on-Trent South)
(Con)
A number of buildings in Stoke-on-Trent South have recently been
used to cultivate drugs, so will my right hon. Friend look at
what more can be done to increase the punishments for those who
allow their buildings to be used for such purposes, or do nothing
to stop it?
My hon. Friend raises a very good point. There are penalties in
place, but I would be more than happy to look again at whether we
are achieving the deterrent effect that we need. As I hope he
knows—this is quite interesting—at this time of year when it is
cold, one of the things that the police helicopter does, when it
has spare time, is to go and look for buildings that are not
exhibiting quite the same pattern of heating as others or are
more insulated, because that is often a sign that something
untoward is going on.
(Putney) (Lab)
I have also seen the impact of county lines on my constituency.
Criminals who run county lines rely on using and abusing
children. That could have been cut by imposing 14-year sentences
on adults who involve children in criminal enterprise and by
their going on to the sex offenders’ wing when they are caught.
The Government whipped their MPs to vote against Labour motions
to do just that in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill.
Will the Minister explain why he chose to block a sentencing
regime that would protect vulnerable children as well as cutting
county lines far faster?
A number of very serious child exploitation offences that carry
very heavy sentences are committed in relation to drugs. As the
hon. Lady knows, in that Bill we are raising the penalty for
child cruelty from 10 to 14 years. I hope that when she looks at
the full package of sentencing, she will support the Bill, which
she voted against.
(Loughborough) (Con)
I really welcome the strategy; it is fantastic news for
Loughborough. I take this opportunity to thank Leicestershire
police for the work that they have done over the past couple of
years through Operation Lionheart; hopefully, the strategy will
help to get us to phase 2 of Operation Lionheart, in order to go
further and faster.
One thing that happened there, for example, was that when the
police came in and arrested someone for drug dealing, and a
closure order was operated by the council, everybody came out on
to their balconies to clap and cheer the people who were doing
the arrest. It was fantastic —really amazing. My first ask is:
please can we have phase 2? Secondly, what are we planning on
doing to work with voluntary groups such as the Carpenter’s Arms
and the Exaireo Trust to really get rehabilitation going?
I am pleased to hear that my hon. Friend is delighted by the
actions of her local police force. I know that Leicestershire
police are working hard on drugs in her constituency and
elsewhere, and they form a critical part of the team effort, not
least because of the transport links: many drugs gangs transit
through Leicestershire on their way to other areas from those big
exporting cities.
As for the local structure, we urge the organisations—councils,
largely—that are leading on the rehabilitation effort to make
sure that they are tying in some of the really valuable third
sector organisations that have enormous experience and are
thirsting to come along and help, very often from their own sense
of commitment and to do good in their community. I am sure that
my hon. Friend’s local health leaders on the programme will
involve the organisations that she referred to.
(Easington) (Lab)
Clearly, the cost to individuals, communities, the criminal
justice system and the police system in the north-east is
increasing, and that is a huge concern. Although there is much to
welcome in the drugs strategy and in Dame Carol Black’s report,
it seems that the Government are placing ideology above public
safety. I say that because I always want public policy to be
informed by the evidence. I have a spent a good deal of time in
the drugs, alcohol and justice cross-party parliamentary group
and there is ample evidence for the positive effects of
heroin-assisted treatment programmes. Will the Minister consider
the evidence and reconsider his position on heroin-assisted
treatment rooms to save lives and create safer communities?
I do not know whether the hon. Gentleman is conflating
heroin-assisted treatment with overdose prevention centres, but
as he may know, heroin-assisted treatment is under way in
Cleveland. When licences are applied for, we look at them on
their merits and on a case-by-case basis. I am happy to entertain
other applications if people want me to. I will take the same
view: that we have to look at them on a case-by-case basis and
see what investment goes alongside that to make sure that we get
the wraparound approach that will result in the recovery that we
want.
(Scarborough and Whitby)
(Con)
A couple of years ago, I spent a day with paramedics in
Scarborough. I was surprised to discover that they were getting
an increasing number of call-outs to professional people in their
50s and early-60s who are suffering from serious, sometimes
fatal, heart disease. The reason? Regular cocaine use over a
number of years. Does the Minister agree that people who think
that drug use is a victimless crime might well find themselves
being the victims themselves?
My right hon. Friend is absolutely spot on. A lot of people
underestimate the impact that illicit drugs can have on not only
their physical health, but, importantly, their mental health. I
think all of us may have experience of meeting those who have
perhaps taken too many drugs in their past and have seen the
damage that that has done to their brains, as well as to their
bodies. That is perhaps one of the education items that we need
to include in our deterrence campaign.
(Glasgow Central)
(SNP)
In 2016, in response to an HIV outbreak, Greater Glasgow and
Clyde health board proposed a supervised drug consumption room—an
overdose prevention room. The Home Office has sat on that request
and blocked it for five years with absolutely no justification,
while people in Glasgow, in my constituency, have died. When the
Minister next comes to Glasgow, will he show the bravery that the
Scottish Government’s Minister for Drug Policy has shown, come
for a walk with me and tell me why people injecting in their
groin in the snow tomorrow should support his drugs policy?
The hon. Lady often vents her fury and anguish about the
situation in Glasgow, which is appalling, on me. She rarely does
it on our Scottish Government colleagues—
Because they have listened!
They, of course, have presided over the incidence of drug deaths
in her city for many years now. Happily, they have made an
investment in health just recently—just before the election in
which they were standing to be re-elected as the Government. The
hon. Lady can shout at me all she likes, but until she shouts at
me and the Scottish Government, it will be hard to take her
completely seriously.
Having said that, I believe that the strategy that we have put in
place will have an impact in the hon. Lady’s constituency, not
least because in the early part of 2019, as she will recall, it
was enforcement efforts by the National Crime Agency in this
country—in England—that intercepted 27 million street benzo
tablets destined for Glasgow. That is the kind of impact that we
can have on behalf of the whole United Kingdom.
(Bury South) (Con)
I speak as chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on
alcohol harm and as vice-chair of the drugs, alcohol and justice
cross-party parliamentary group. Addiction is never a choice; I
am grateful that the Government are now talking about drugs in
terms of rehabilitation and addiction, not just criminality.
However, the cheapest and most readily accessible drug is
alcohol. When will the Government develop an addiction and
rehabilitation strategy that will include alcohol? This is one
thing I never thought I would say, but I agree with hon. Members
on the SNP Front Bench. We need to tackle the stigma of
addiction, so will the Government agree to tackle it and remove
the exclusion of addiction from the Equality Act 2010?
As my hon. Friend may know, alcohol-related crime is of deep
interest to me. That interest was behind my 10-year campaign to
bring in sobriety ankle bracelets, which are having an enormous
impact across the country with 97% compliance. While this
strategy is drug-focused, it is worth pointing out that, as I am
sure he knows, quite a number of people have an addiction both to
drugs and to alcohol. The provision of treatment services that
are primarily for their drug addiction will have a spill-over
effect on their alcohol addiction; I hope that he will see an
improvement in that as well.
(Ellesmere Port and Neston)
(Lab)
One of the frustrations that my constituents have is that if they
live in a flat and someone else in the block is a persistent
cannabis smoker, the whole block can reek of cannabis. It affects
their health; it affects their children’s health. They go to the
landlord, but the landlord says, “We won’t get involved unless
there’s a police prosecution”—and more often than not, the police
will not prosecute people for smoking in their own home. Is there
anything in the strategy that will put an end to the misery that
people experience in that situation?
The hon. Gentleman raises a good point—a good counterpoint to
issues that others have raised. As part of our strategy, in the
next year we will produce a White Paper that we hope will contain
a new system for changing such behaviour and deterring
individuals from such casual, thoughtless and often cruel drug
consumption, which not only interferes with his constituents’
happiness and enjoyment of their home, but drives an enormous
amount of violence on the streets.
(Bury North) (Con)
I very much welcome my right hon. Friend’s statement and its
emphasis on treatment and rehabilitation, but throughout the
country, as we speak, shopkeepers and small businesses are at the
mercy of drug-addicted shoplifters. In Greater Manchester, a
shoplifting offence will be occurring at this moment with no
response from the police. Shops are being pillaged. People have
no defence to this type of drug-related crime. Although we want
to concentrate on rehabilitation and ensure that we have the best
treatment in place, we have to protect the victims of crime as
well.
My hon. Friend is exactly right. As he may know, last year I
wrote to chiefs across the country to urge them to take such
offences as seriously as possible as part of our general
confrontation of crime in a retail environment. He is right that
individuals who undertake such low-level crimes to fund a habit
need to be punished for them, but at the same time we need to
ensure that they do not do them again, which means treating their
addiction.
(York Central)
(Lab/Co-op)
The year-on-year cuts to treatment services have been
devastating, and we have also lost a lot of the skill of
professionals working across treatment services. Will the
Minister publish a workforce plan that not only rebuilds the
treatment service, but ensures that people are skilled up to work
in residential settings as well as in drug consumption rooms?
We have undertaken to publish an annual report to Parliament
evaluating our progress on all these matters.
(Aylesbury) (Con)
I very much welcome the strategy that the Minister has outlined
today. I entirely agree about the vile practice of county lines
drug dealing; having joined officers from Thames Valley police in
Aylesbury on drugs operations, I know that one of the most
shocking aspects is the way in which criminal gangs manipulate
vulnerable people by taking over their home and using it as a
base to carry out their trade. Can the Minister tell the House
how the drugs strategy will help to tackle that evil
exploitation?
My hon. Friend is exactly right. The practice of cuckooing,
particularly where it targets often vulnerable adults in a
destination drug-dealing town or village, is a really horrible
thing to witness and often results in violence and victimisation.
The £145 million that we are putting in to turbocharge our effort
on county lines, making sure that the big exporting forces are
co-ordinated through the national county lines co-ordination
centre with the importing forces, will allow us to get ahead of
exactly the kind of exploitation that my hon. Friend points
to.
(North Tyneside) (Lab)
The drugs, alcohol and justice cross-party parliamentary group
fully supports Dame Carol’s recommendations as key. Will the
Minister meet the group to discuss how treatment providers and
service users can be actively consulted to make sure that the
strategy works?
I would be happy to take that meeting.
(Keighley) (Con)
Drug dealing, unfortunately, happens under everybody’s nose in
Keighley, which is why I am so delighted that the Government are
delivering this plan. It was only a couple of months ago that a
constituent sent me video evidence of drug drops by a Keighley
taxi firm. One of the most harmful aspects of drug dealing in my
constituency is the grooming of young children and getting them
involved in the practice from an early age. Can my right hon.
Friend assure me that that we will stop that vile practice by
tackling the drug barons with much tougher sentences?
My hon. Friend is exactly right. One of the most unpleasant
characteristics of county lines is the exploitation—often
victimisation and terrorisation—of vulnerable young people. They
are often given drugs; they become addicted; they then run up
debts and are forced to deal drugs on behalf of these appalling
individuals. Over the past two years, the police have rescued a
little over 4,000 individuals from exactly that situation. We
hope that the investment we are making will rescue a hell of a
lot more.
(Luton South) (Lab)
I welcome the strategy’s holistic approach, but there is an
element of irony in it, given that it is the Minister’s party
that has cut 60p in every £1 to local authorities over the past
decade and has failed to address the structurally flawed police
funding model affecting counties such as Bedfordshire, which has
contributed to increasing drug-related issues in towns such as
Luton. Will the Minister commit to addressing the core funding
formula issues affecting forces such as Bedfordshire, to ensure
the longer-term resilience of our police to tackle organised
crime groups and drug-related crime in Luton?
I am hesitant to point out that it was the hon. Lady’s party that
crashed the economy, but nevertheless I feel compelled to do so.
As she may have heard me say from the Dispatch Box, we have
committed to bringing in a new funding formula, and work is under
way to devise exactly that.
(Telford) (Con)
As somebody who has lost a family member to drugs, I am
incredibly grateful to the Minister for bringing forward this
10-year strategy. I know only too well the misery that drugs
cause children, families and communities, which so often leads to
death. Does the Minister agree that addiction is an illness and
we need to treat it as an illness? Sending people to prison time
and again does not cure the problem, whereas access to good
treatment is the solution.
I agree that addiction is an illness or affliction that is
outwith an individual’s control. Although addiction often drives
individuals to commit crime, for which they must be punished, we
have a duty to make sure that there is no repetition, which means
that we need to treat the addiction in the best way possible in
the circumstances. I am very sorry to hear that my hon. Friend
has experienced that loss; there are too many families in this
country who are in the same situation. I hope that our strategy
will mean that those numbers reduce.
(Carmarthen East and
Dinefwr) (Ind)
Richard Lewis, the chief constable of Cleveland police who is
soon to take the helm at Dyfed-Powys, wrote in The Guardian
recently that problem drug use must be seen as a health issue as
opposed to a policing issue. His view was based on his
experiences of the heroin-assisted treatment pilot programme in
Middlesbrough. Will the Minister work with the Welsh Government
to roll out that pilot across Wales so that it is seen as a
treatment-based alternative to street drugs, dismantling the
demand that sustains the operations of criminal gangs?
I am already working with the Welsh Government as much as
possible. As the hon. Gentleman will know, we have an ADDER
project in south Wales, and we are working in close partnership
with the Welsh Government on the health side to try to drive the
numbers down.
While I am interested in examining heroin-assisted treatment, I
am more interested in the new pharmacological treatment that is
being rolled out in Wales. A monthly injection of depot
buprenorphine effectively kills the craving for opiates,
particularly heroin. I think that 600 or 700 people are now
receiving it in Wales and indeed in England, with fantastic
results. That is the kind of innovation of which we would like to
see more.
(Rother Valley)
(Con)
Drugs bring nothing more than pain and misery and leave nothing
more than blood on our streets, fuelling human slavery,
terrorism, child sexual exploitation and, ultimately, death. I
therefore welcome the £145 million investment in tackling county
lines, but does the Minister agree that we must win the war not
only against those who push drugs but against those who find it
socially acceptable to take them? Does he agree that we should
pursue every possible solution, whether it is treatment,
rehabilitation or stop and search, but should also introduce far
longer and tougher jail sentences for those who push drugs?
Well, Mr Speaker—Mr Deputy Speaker, I should say. Forgive me, but
maybe, one day.
I agree with my hon. Friend that those who promote drugs, in his
constituency and many others including mine, deserve sentences
that will deter others from following their path. We need a
360-degree approach, attacking supply—as we are doing now, with
ever greater skill—but also dealing with demand. By killing both,
we will drive those people out of business completely.
(Eltham) (Lab)
I welcome today’s announcement, but the Minister must know that
delivering this strategy will demand a change of mindset on the
Government’s part. All the services that will be required to
co-operate have suffered serious cuts over the last 10 years. We
have lost 21,000 police officers, and drug and alcohol services
and probation services have been cut severely. Will this new
money do no more than backfill the holes that have been left by
the Government cuts, or will we actually see any new
services?
The hon. Gentleman is refusing to accept any culpability for the
financial situation of the country 12 years ago, when a number of
Members—certainly on our side of the House—were still teenagers.
Notwithstanding his claim, however, we intend to build a
world-class treatment system that will require the acquisition of
skills and personnel across the country; and, as I have said, we
have undertaken to come to the House annually to report on our
progress.
(North Norfolk) (Con)
I thank the Minister for paying tribute to the Norfolk
constabulary in his opening remarks. They have done a fine job in
smashing county lines drug dealing.
Recreational cannabis undeniably causes harm to individuals and
society. When I was a much younger man, I was asked to play
football—mainly because I was not very good—with a drug
rehabilitation group, and I saw at first hand the devastation
that drugs had caused those young men. Notwithstanding the
arguments that legalisation would eliminate the crime committed
by the illicit trade, I feel that it would not. Can the Minister
assure me that we will never legalise cannabis, and that this new
strategy will ensure that we crack down on illicit drug use and
the misery that it causes?
I recognise the situation that my hon. Friend has posited.
Indeed, if we look around the world at the countries that have
gone down the path that he eschews, we see a pattern of impact
that is not completely desirable—and of course we do not know
what the impact of overuse of that particular substance will be
in the long term, particularly the impact on young people’s
mental health. We currently have no plans to change the status of
cannabis, and I hope that my hon. Friend will participate in the
promotion of the White Paper when it appears in order to bring
about the change in behaviour that both he and I seek.
(Edinburgh East) (SNP)
I had hoped for something better, especially from this Minister,
and I think that a great many people will have been disappointed
by his statement. Rather than bringing fresh thinking to the
problem, he is doubling down on the failed strategies of the
past. He knows that the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 is not fit for
purpose—he has already accepted that it constrains and
compromises his ability to deal with this problem—so will he
commit himself to an evidence-led review of the legislation?
I am sorry that the hon. Gentleman is disappointed, and is
disappointed in me in particular. I have to say that I am
disappointed in him, because while some of us try to remain
open-minded on this issue and seek evidence, I am not sure that
his position is shifting at all.
As I have said, we are making a significant investment in what is
internationally accepted to be the most efficacious way to deal
with pernicious addiction to heroin and crack, and I hope that
the hon. Gentleman will welcome that, as he has welcomed it in
Scotland. No doubt he has accepted and welcomed what the Scottish
Government are doing, and I hope he will accept and welcome what
we are doing here, and will not be in denial just because it is
us. I hope he will be encouraged by the fact that our plan
includes a commitment to build a really strong, world-beating
evidence base, drawn from across the world, which will allow us
to make drug policy into the future. While we have a
10-year-ambition, this is a journey that we are just starting,
and we will learn as we go. I hope that the hon. Gentleman will
undertake to learn too.
(Inverclyde) (SNP)
As this Government seek out more people to arrest, tomorrow the
Global Commission on Drug Policy, backed by 14 former Prime
Ministers and Presidents, will call on Governments to break their
addiction to punishing users, and to legalise and legislate
instead. When will the Government learn, from 50 years of
experience, that they cannot arrest their way out of a drugs
crisis?
If we followed the hon. Gentleman’s logic, we would give up
arresting burglars.
(Rutherglen and Hamilton
West) (Ind)
The Beacons in Blantyre, which is in my constituency, aims to
provide treatment for those with drug addiction whose needs are
not being met through the traditional routes. It is
volunteer-led, and, crucially, it looks for volunteers with lived
experience. It is an excellent community asset. Have the
Government considered the ways in which organisations of this
kind can contribute to successful intervention and rehabilitation
across the UK?
As I said earlier, we hope that those who design the local
frameworks to bring about the recovery chains that we want to see
will take account of the skills and facilities that can be
provided by the third sector, but in the hon. Lady ‘s
constituency that will obviously be a matter for the Scottish
Government.
Mr Deputy Speaker ( )
I thank the Minister for his statement, and for answering
questions for more than an hour.
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