Draft Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (Amendment) (No. 2) Order 2017

Louise Haigh Excerpts

Monday 23rd October 2017 General Committees

[Louise Haigh (Sheffield, Heeley) (Lab)]

I add my congratulations on your appointmen, Ms McDonagh. I know you will be a fantastic Chair—it feels strange to call you that—and it is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship.

The official Opposition are happy to support the statutory instrument. We have heeded the advice of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, which found that MPA has no known medicinal, commercial or industrial benefits. The Government and the Opposition—everyone in this place—have a duty to ensure that the law is coherent and consistent as the temporary order on this drug expires.

As the evidence suggests, MPA has often been marketed as a legal alternative to cocaine, often in concoction with other stimulant drugs. Its side effects of predominantly include tachycardia, chest tightness, anxiety and nausea. We accept the conclusions of the ACMD that it is a high-risk drug, with known deaths related to its use.

I want to use this opportunity to press the Minister on two points. The drugs strategy and policy making surrounding drugs and their classification are largely based on the crime survey for England and Wales. We are therefore concerned, having learnt last week that the Government are cutting the sample size, the response rate and the questions relating to performance, experience and attitudes to the criminal justice system. Will the Minister say how that will affect future decisions relating to drug classification? The drugs strategy is utterly reliant on crime survey data, so it is worrying that its legitimacy is being reduced. I hope the Minister will pass those concerns back to the Department and think again.

The new drugs strategy board is intended to oversee the strategy itself and, by implication, the classification of MPA. It comprises among others, Public Health England and the national policing lead. Has the full composition been agreed yet? Also, when will the Minister report on the work of the national recovery champion, who was to travel the country establishing best practice on drugs policy and the drugs strategy implementation?

Having said that, we recognise the harm caused by MPA and the importance of it being tightly controlled. We are pleased to support the statutory instrument.

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[Sarah Newton]

I thank my hon. Friend for his question. He is absolutely right. The great success of the Psychoactive Substances Act is that, when Public Health England or police officers are worried about a new substance they see appearing on the market, immediate protection can be put in place, with a lesser burden of evidence required than for full scheduling, to prevent people from getting that harmful substance. Temporary control orders give time for the evidence base to be gathered—the full toxicology reports and the data from Public Health England and police forces—and put in the round to measure the harm in full, so that we can properly schedule substances under the 1971 Act, which is exactly what we are seeing today; the whole process is working its way through.

Stronger penalties are associated with the possession or dealing of drugs according to the schedule. We very much hope that those stronger, tougher penalties act as a deterrent and send out a clear message to young people or anyone that these are harmful substances that we do not want them to even think about taking.

[Louise Haigh]

I am a bit confused by the Minister’s answer. My understanding is that substances controlled under the Psychoactive Substances Act but not the Misuse of Drugs Act did not carry a possession offence. Indeed, the police are dealing with that problem at the moment in relation to Spice: they can control the supply but are not able to tackle possession, because that is not a criminal offence under the Psychoactive Substances Act. My understanding is that MPA was brought under this schedule because it would not be treated as a possession offence under the Psychoactive Substances Act, but it now will be.

[Sarah Newton]

I thank the hon. Lady for that clarification; I am sorry if my answer was not clear. I thought I was saying that, by bringing it across, there are those stronger penalties. She is absolutely right about that.

Question put and agreed to.