Drugs: Prohibition and Criminalisation

Baroness Chapman of Darlington Excerpts

Wednesday 11th November 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)]

The noble Lord raises an extremely important point. He will know that some seven or eight years ago, we passed legislation in both Houses—I was then the shadow Minister in the House of Commons—on drug testing for driving, particularly for cocaine. He raises the issues of enforcement and good practice; I will take them back and reflect on them and, if I have any further information, I can reply to him. He needs to know that legislation on a cross-party basis has been passed, it will be enforced, and it is extremely important that we stop people who are under the influence of drugs driving vehicles.

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

Will my noble friend the Minister please update the House on something we worked together on many years ago: specialist drug courts and the role they may have in reducing reoffending, particularly for people whose offending is related to their drug misuse?

[Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)]

I am grateful for my noble friend’s question. The use of drug courts, and judges having ownership of individuals who go through those courts and of the treatment those individuals get, is extremely important. That is a matter for the Ministry of Justice, but it is certainly something we are encouraging. We have put in place, as we did during previous Labour Governments up to 2010, significant numbers of drug treatment orders, which focus on helping people get off drugs in the first place.