Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (Amendment) Order 2016
(7 years, 6 months ago)
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Baroness Williams of Trafford
That the Grand Committee do consider the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (Amendment) Order 2016.
The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Williams of Trafford) (Con)
My Lords, this order was laid before Parliament on 20 July. I am very grateful to the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs for its world-class advice. It is the council’s recommendations that have prompted the order before your Lordships today.
The order relates to a group of synthetic cannabinoids, captured by a generic definition, and to dienedione, an anabolic steroid. The order would amend the generic definition of synthetic cannabinoids in Schedule 2, Part 2 of the 1971 Act, to include the new group as class B drugs. This will make it an offence to possess, produce, import, export, supply or offer to supply these drugs without Home Office licence. The order will insert dienedione into Schedule 2 Part 3 of the Act, as a class C drug. Similar to other anabolic steroids, dienedione will be exempted from the Act’s possession offence.
The psychoactive effects and harms of the third generation synthetic cannabinoids proposed to be controlled by the order are reported to be similar to cannabis and other synthetic cannabinoids already controlled under the 1971 Act. A number of substances with legitimate medicinal applications have been specifically exempted from the definition, along with some substances already controlled as class A drugs. There are no known legitimate or recognised uses of the remaining compounds beyond potential research.
The ACMD advises that the potential physical and social harms of dienedione would be commensurate with those of other anabolic steroids. It notes that the substance can alter the growth of skeletal muscle and bone as well as the differentiation, growth and maintenance of the reproductive system and sexual characteristics in men.
The ACMD considers that these substances are being, or are likely to be, misused, and that misuse is having, or is capable of having, harmful effects sufficient to constitute a social problem. For this reason, my honourable friend the Minister for Vulnerability, Safeguarding and Countering Extremism, accepted the advisory council’s advice that these substances should be subject to this order.
In due course it is intended to make two further related negative statutory instruments to come into force at the same time as the order. This will add dienedione and the third generation synthetic cannabinoids to the appropriate schedules to the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001. The Misuse of Drugs (Designation) Order 2001 will also be amended to designate these synthetic cannabinoids, as they have no recognised legitimate uses outside of research.
The order, if made, will provide enforcement agencies with the requisite powers to restrict the supply and use of these harmful substances in this country. We know that the law change cannot, on its own, deter all those inclined to use or experiment with these drugs. However, we expect the order to have a notable impact on their availability. This will also provide a clear message to the public that the Government consider these substances too dangerous to health to allow them to circulate in the UK.
Lord Jones (Lab)
My Lords, I thank the Minister for her cogent and precise explanation of this draft statutory instrument. I am not able to discern from looking at the papers before us whether the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (Amendment) Order 2016 as a statutory instrument has any reference to Wales. Perhaps the Minister’s officials may be able to advise her. My guess is that it does not, but perhaps the information can come forward for the convenience of the Committee via officials. If it is not applicable, are we able to understand today how it may indirectly be applied to the Principality? Some information would be helpful. Even though more and more Members of your Lordships’ House have a link to and a residence in Wales, it is harder and harder to obtain information about the Principality given the establishment of the Welsh Assembly.
Lastly, and with no great seriousness, looking at the Explanatory Note and at the last list of substances that have legitimate medical uses, can I invite the Minister—who has great ability—for the convenience of the Committee to pronounce the last three substances?
Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Lab)
My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness for her explanation of the order before us today and say at the outset that we fully support them and what the Government are trying to do. I see in my briefing note that synthetic cannabinoids are also known as Spice, which I will use as it is easier. There were 29 deaths from these drugs in 2011 and that figure rose to 67 in 2014. Spice can cause aggression and delusions and worsen mental conditions and clearly is a very dangerous substance. We must do what we can to get it off the streets.
Figures from the Centre for Social Justice show that officers from 32 police forces attended 3,807 incidents in 2014, up from 1,400 the previous year. The Prison Ombudsman reported that between June 2013 and January 2016 there were 58 fatalities where the prisoner was thought to be, or suspected of being, involved with the substances before their death.
I do not know whether the Minister has any evidence or any information regarding admissions to A&E departments. I am sure there will be a number of these and ones where these drugs were taken with other substances. As I said, I fully support the order but I have a number of other points and questions for the Minister. If she cannot answer them now I would be very happy for her to write to me.
These drugs are still covered by the Psychoactive Substances Act so why are we moving across to the Misuse of Drugs Act? There is also a possession offence with this Act. How is that going to be policed? It would also be helpful if the Minister could say something about how schools, colleges and universities deal with young people’s exposure to these drugs and more generally about the quality of drug and alcohol education provision. I understand that the drugs strategy is going to be published in the next few weeks. Can she say a bit more about that, particularly about education and prevention? Does she see an intelligence gap in our ability to police the levels of Spice in the UK, being imported into Britain and being stockpiled? I am conscious that she may not be able to answer these questions here, and I am content with the order.
Baroness Williams of Trafford
My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who have contributed to the debate, and I shall go through the various questions they have asked. The noble Lord, Lord Jones, mentioned the fact that no reference is made to Wales, but these orders apply to England and Wales. He asked about the last three substances mentioned in the order—telmisartan, viminol and zafirlukast. The noble Lord wants to intervene.
Baroness Williams of Trafford
I thank the noble Lord. The noble Lord, Lord Kennedy, has rightly outlined the very real harms associated with Spice, in particular in prisons. A documentary I saw about the drug highlighted the terrible effect it is having on the streets of Manchester. In terms of the number of admissions to A&E departments, I do not have that figure today, but if we have it, I will provide it for him. However, I cannot think that even indirectly it does not contribute to emergency hospital admissions because of the general effect it has on the person who is using it. Moreover it is very cheap, which is why it acts as a pull on those who have less access to money than others.
The noble Lord also asked about the crossover from the psychoactive substances legislation to the Misuse of Drugs Act. Given the reported risks and the known harms that the substances are already known to pose to public health, the ACMD had previously advised that they warrant control under the misuse of drugs legislation. The control utilises the stricter offences of production and distribution without a licence under any circumstances, which I am sure that the noble Lord will be pleased about, as well as the possession offence. That can impose a higher maximum sentence. These stricter penalties for offences will prove to be a stronger deterrent to the supply of these substances. I repeat what I said in my opening remarks: there is no known medicinal use for them.
The noble Lord asked about the drugs strategy. As he knows it is currently being developed and we will continue to build on the 2010 strategy to take a balanced approach and tackle drug misuse as a pre-driver of crime. We aim to publish the strategy shortly. I know that your Lordships do not like the word “shortly”, but we are planning to release it soon.
The noble Lord also talked about education and prevention, which for me is the key point in this: how do we deter our young people from taking these poor lifestyle choices in the first place? We have an online resilience-building resource called Rise Above which is aimed at 11 to 16 year-olds. It provides resources to help to develop the skills young people need to make positive choices for their health, including avoiding drug use. We also have FRANK, the Government’s drug information advice service that many noble Lords will have heard of. It continues to be updated to reflect new and emerging patterns of drug use and it evolves to remain in line with young people’s media habits. Moreover, Public Health England has developed its role in supporting local areas in terms of sharing evidence to support the commissioning and delivery of effective public health prevention activities. I think that I have answered all the questions put by noble Lords, and with that I beg to move.