Draft Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (Amendment) Order 2022 Debate
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Diana Johnson
Main Page: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North and Cottingham)Department Debates - View all Diana Johnson's debates with the Ministry of Justice
Draft Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (Amendment) Order 2022
Diana Johnson Excerpts(2 years, 10 months ago)
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Dame Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)
I think it is a very good move to reclassify GHBRS, and I want to refer to Deputy Chief Constable Jason Harwin, who gave evidence to the Home Affairs Committee yesterday calling for this reclassification. The Minister will know that we are conducting an inquiry into spiking. Can he comment on spiking and on how the measure will lead to the putting together of a toolkit for dealing with it, so that it is taken much more seriously by all, including the police? On sentencing, will the reclassification give the police added impetus to investigate and take complaints more seriously? Finally, will there be additional forensic capacity for dealing with a rise in spiking complaints, particularly around the drugs that we are talking about today? That is an ongoing issue, which was raised with the Home Affairs Committee yesterday.