Oral Answers to Questions

Alison Thewliss Excerpts

Tuesday 14th December 2021 Commons Chamber

[Chris Law (Dundee West) (SNP)]

1. What recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the effectiveness of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.

[Alison Thewliss (Glasgow Central) (SNP)]

21. What recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the effectiveness of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.

[The Minister for Crime and Policing (Kit Malthouse)]

There are no plans to amend the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. The principle remains that drugs are dangerous and need to be controlled appropriately.

[Kit Malthouse]

I refute the claim that we are stuck in the last century. In fact, we launched a world-beating strategy just last week, if the hon. Gentleman was paying attention, that proposes a three-pronged approach on drugs, which we believe will have some success over the next decade. I understand that the hon. Gentleman and his colleagues often push for the legalisation of cannabis, but I point him to the mixed experience of various parts of the world that have done so, not least California, where it is widely agreed to have been a disaster.

[Alison Thewliss]

I visited a drug consumption room in Geneva, right next to the central station in that city. Has the Minister visited a drug consumption room? It is important to make Government policy on the basis of evidence and what actually works in other countries.

[Kit Malthouse]

I have not visited a drug consumption room, although I did have a very illuminating meeting with Ruth Dreifuss, the former President of Switzerland who has been promoting the policy, to discuss the issues they have faced in Switzerland and elsewhere. While I understand that repetition is not uncommon in this place, the hon. Lady will not elicit from me an answer that expands on the ones I have given to her previously.

--- Later in debate ---

[Dominic Raab]

My hon. Friend is right about the problem that he has diagnosed, and in the not-too-distant future I shall make a statement about our plans for reform.

[Alison Thewliss (Glasgow Central) (SNP)]

The Minister confirmed earlier that he had not visited a drug consumption room in any of the European countries where they have been operating for years. Will he come instead to my constituency to see where people are injecting—on waste ground, in bin sheds and in lanes away from Christmas shoppers—so that he can see what the alternative is under his plans?