Drugs Policy

Debate between Bob Ainsworth and James Brokenshire

Thursday 16th December 2010 Westminster Hall

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (James Brokenshire)]

Thank you, Mr Walker, for presiding over this Westminster Hall debate on drugs policy, and for giving me the opportunity to speak on a subject that I know is of real concern not only to right hon. and hon. Members in the House, but to communities throughout the country.

It is obviously a timely debate, given that the coalition Government launched their new drug strategy on 8 December. The development of the strategy was supported by a targeted consultation exercise in the autumn, which generated more than 1,800 responses. That shows how seriously people take the matter, and how important it is that the Government get their drug policy right. We have worked hard to achieve precisely that.

I congratulate the right hon. Member for Coventry North East (Mr Ainsworth) on securing today’s debate. It is right that we should debate these issues. Although we may disagree with the approach, it is, I think, an honest disagreement on the basis of emphasis, priority and what is likely to be most effective. In no way would I impute anything other than honourable intentions to the approach that he seeks to bring this afternoon. None the less, there is clearly a difference of opinion across the House and probably across his own party. Although he clearly brings passion and belief to the debate, I genuinely disagree with him on a number of issues that he has raised this afternoon.

On the issue of the criminal justice system, I ask the right hon. Gentleman to reflect on recent developments. The hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull North (Diana Johnson), who speaks for the Opposition, has just highlighted the issue of legal highs. One of the challenges that the Government have faced was the perception that because a drug was legal it was safe, and the way in which that was interpreted by many young people.

Putting a legal framework around some of the newly emerging psychoactive substances did have an effect. It reduced demand. It telegraphed very clearly that these were dangerous drugs and could significantly harm health. That in itself provided a significant public health message as well as a criminal justice framework around both supply and possession.

This is a changing environment. Issues and challenges are emerging to which the Government must respond. Indeed we need to look at why people become addicted and why they become involved in drugs in the first place. The problem is complex and cannot be resolved by looking at criminal justice in isolation. Other factors must be taken into account, such as intergenerational deprivation and treatment pathways, which we emphasise very clearly in our drugs strategy.

I genuinely welcome our discussion and the approaches that right hon. and hon. Members have brought to it this afternoon. As for the notion that our proposal on the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs is silly—that was probably the one pejorative phrase that the right hon. Gentleman used during the course of his contribution this afternoon—let me say to both the right hon. Gentleman and the shadow spokesman that its existing framework is a matter that has merited our careful consideration. Our proposal should in no way be characterised as Government not wanting to receive scientific advice.

As hon. Members will know, there are different types of members of the ACMD: the statutory and non-statutory members. We are not convinced that drawing that distinction between the two is necessarily sensible. Equally, the need for scientific and other expert advice has changed over the years. Indeed, the science itself has changed, and it is important to have flexibility in the arrangements on the construction of the ACMD. That was the purpose that lay behind the provisions in the Police and Social Responsibility Bill.

The ACMD was supportive of the proposal. It acknowledged that it is questionable whether the statutory positions in the Act correlate with how the council now operates. It considered that the proposed change was particularly important given the introduction of the temporary bans and the need to provide advice within short timeframes.

The chief scientific adviser to the Home Office, Professor Silverman, has also consulted the wider scientific community and garnered broad support. The flexibility of bringing different expertise to the ACMD as the drugs landscape changed was welcomed. Those consulted were the Academy of Medical Sciences, the British Academy, the British Society of Criminology, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, the British Pharmacological Society, the Royal Society and the Royal Society of Medicine. The proposals also had the support of Sir John Beddington, the Government’s chief scientific adviser.

I just want to put it on the record that this is in no way seeking to undermine or weaken the scientific approach that we wish to take over the formulation of drugs policy. We very much value the scientific input and the relationship that we have with the ACMD in the formulation of policy. That is very important and I would not wish in any way to give the impression that the Government were, in some way, not looking to scientific advice or input or not having that expert involvement in the formulation of policy. It is important that I state that this afternoon.

There were some good contributions by a number of hon. Members this afternoon, which highlighted the various different treatment providers in their constituencies. I welcome the work that is undertaken in that regard. When I come on to the main body of my speech, I will set out some of the themes that have emerged from the strategy, explaining how we wish to develop them further.

The right hon. Gentleman challenged me on the evaluation and asked how long we are seeking to pursue the policy framework that was set out in the drugs strategy. Let me say that this is the Government’s drugs strategy for this Parliament. None the less, let me draw the attention of the right hon. Gentleman to the penultimate paragraph of the drugs strategy, which makes it clear that we are committed to reviewing the strategy on an annual basis.

Such a review will allow us to respond to new and emerging evidence and to respond flexibly to the changing nature of the drugs trade and the outcomes being achieved. That is something that we have underlined along with the need to ensure that we consider the newly emerging evidence as it moves forward.

[Mr Ainsworth]

I thank the Minister for his firm support for continued scientific input on the advisory committee. In the annual report, if there is no evidence of decreased availability, of an improvement in drug problems in the country next year, is he prepared to consider other prohibition?

[James Brokenshire]

I do not intend to have an annual debate on decriminalisation. What I want to see is the emerging evidence. Some of the issues that are raised are sometimes on the basis of supposition and assertion and we will look at any clear evidence that appears. I have been considering this issue for quite some time, as I know that the right hon. Gentleman has, and the comments that I make this afternoon are made not because I am on the Front Bench or the Back Bench, but because they are honestly held views. We are simply not persuaded by the arguments on decriminalisation because we feel that it will increase supply, that it does not take account of the complexities of the drug problem—why people become addicted to drugs in the first place—and that it could make the situation worse. It is a question of looking at the outcomes of our policy.

The pilots around payment by results will be introduced during the course of this year. It would be premature to expect results over the course of 12 months. This is a five-year strategy—or a four-and-a-half-year one now. We will be considering not only the interim outcomes that will be produced by the strategy, but the evidence and the performance that sits alongside the course of the strategy as it is implemented. That is the responsible and sensible thing to do.

The right hon. Gentleman said that drugs have become a party political football, but I believe that they are becoming less of that. I certainly welcome some of the comments that were made this afternoon by the hon. Lady who speaks for the Opposition in relation to the approaches that have been set out in the new drugs strategy. I also appreciate the welcome that has been given to our proposals for dealing with legal highs and the temporary bans that are suggested in the new Police and Social Responsibility Bill. I hope that even this afternoon we are having a measured debate, even if we disagree on some of the themes and issues that are being debated. It is important that we have a sensible and measured debate, even if we may fundamentally disagree on some issues. At least it sets a measured framework around the discussion of some of these themes, which I know is sometimes difficult to achieve in debating what is a sensitive issue that often provokes a number of passions.

I would also take issue with the claim that the approach on enforcement is not capable of working, especially when one considers that the quality of cocaine on the streets is, in some cases, as low as 10% in purity at the moment. That shows some of the very effective work that is taking place, both in-country and also upstream back to places such as Latin America, where cocaine—from coca production—comes from, as I know that the right hon. Member for Coventry North East will know very well. When I visited Latin America at the end of September, I was very impressed by a number of measures that Governments in that region are undertaking, not only to tackle production but to undermine and take very clear action against the organised crime groups that do harm in this country as well as in Latin American countries. That co-operation between countries on enforcement and on sharing intelligence is a very effective way of responding to some of the organised crime groups, including seizing assets and using such powers more effectively to get at what is driving a number of those groups. I know that right hon. and hon. Members will have seen that that has been a theme that we have developed clearly in the drugs strategy itself.

The new drugs strategy is a critical articulation of our reform programme and work to tackle the key causes of societal harm, which include crime, family breakdown and poverty. It sets out a different approach to tackling drug use and dependence. The difference from previous strategies is the focus on the key aim of supporting and enabling those who are dependent on drugs and alcohol to recover fully, and the strategy places responsibility on individuals to seek help to overcome their dependency. Alongside our holistic approach to supporting people to overcome their dependency, we will also be reducing the demand for drugs, by taking an uncompromising approach to crack down on those involved in the drugs trade and shifting power and accountability to local areas to tackle the damage that drugs and alcohol dependence cause to communities.

The strategy sets out two high-level ambitions; first, to reduce illicit and other harmful drug use, and secondly to increase the numbers of individuals recovering from their dependency on drugs and alcohol. I think that we are seeing a changing pattern in what the experts would describe as polysubstance abuse; drugs are not being taken in isolation, but are being taken together. That is why it is important in the treatment framework to ensure that alcohol is part of that treatment platform. These ambitions will be achieved through activity that will encompass three themes: reducing demand; restricting supply, and building recovery.

On reducing demand, we will focus on establishing—