Overdose Prevention
Centres
(York Central)
(Lab/Co-op)
1. What recent discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on
licensing overdose prevention centres. (901256)
(Glasgow North East)
(SNP)
11. If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of
implementing a pilot project to evaluate the effectiveness of
drug consumption rooms. (901266)
The Secretary of State for the Home Department ()
Welcome back, Mr Speaker. I endorse everything you have just
said. We enjoy the right to lawful, peaceful protest, but we
enjoy the right to open democracy as well. Those who behave in
this way should feel the full force of the law.
Before I answer these questions, I will briefly remark on my
three years as Home Secretary under Boris Johnson’s prime
ministership. A written ministerial statement in my name was
tabled this morning—[Interruption]—shut up—outlining the work of
the Home Office over the last three years to meet our manifesto
commitments, which include some of the biggest reforms on
security, migration and public safety, about which Mr Speaker has
just spoken. I am proud to have served in this Government, and I
thank the Prime Minister, Home Office Ministers past and present,
and a wide range of officials.
Drugs are a scourge on society that destroys lives, blights
communities and fuels crime. There is no safe way to take
dangerous drugs, so I do not support legalising drugs.
Importantly, the drug strategy led by this Government will tackle
drug supply, reduce demand and provide world-class treatment to
those in need of help.
Tragically, York saw a number of deaths over the summer caused by
substance misuse. There were 4,859 drug deaths in England and
Wales last year, up 6.2% on the previous year, and Dame
Carol Black’s second report highlighted that
intervention services are not fit for purpose. It is important
that we see change based on evidence. Will the Government look
again at the impact of overdose prevention units and pilot them
in places such as York?
The hon. Lady makes a very important point about the tragedy of
drug deaths, and she highlights the incredibly important work of
Dame Carol Black I
pay tribute to the work of Dame Carol
Black including everything she proposed on the
drug strategy and treatment programmes. She also highlighted
where funding needs to come together across the whole of
Government, and a great deal of work is taking place on that.
The hon. Lady is correct. Not only does more work need to be
done, but we need to have bottom-up solutions.
Dame Carol
Black has presented some strong proposals to the
Government, and the Prime Minister and I have backed and
supported them. It is right that that legacy continues, as it
will help to save lives and re-establish rehabilitation
programmes across the country.
Last week I spent an evening in Glasgow with families who, like
me, have lost someone to drug addiction. They and I accept that
the ideal situation is that people will conquer their addiction,
but does the right hon. Lady accept that they can do that only if
they do not die first? Does she also accept that, for those who
continue to use, we should enable them to do so as safely as
possible and as close to medical assistance as possible? The
Royal College of Nursing supports drug consumption rooms. Will
she support them? And will she support the families and the
memory of all those who have lost their life to drugs? Will she
give the go-ahead for just one pilot project?
I totally recognise and understand not only the hon. Lady’s
remarks, but the scale of drug addiction and drug deaths—we have
discussed this many times before in this House and it is tragic.
Conquering addiction is not easy, which is why I stand by the
work of Carol
Black It is pivotal in terms of putting forward
long-term treatment programmes, because long-term treatment is
really required. My views on drug consumption rooms, in
particular, are known, but there are no easy solutions to this,
because people who are addicted to drugs have taken drugs for a
wide range of reasons. It is important that we seek to support
them to conquer addiction and help them to rebuild their lives.
