Drugs: Misuse

(asked on 29th June 2021) - View Source

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 26 May 2021 to Question 5140, and to the Answer of 7 June 2021 to Question 7725 on Drugs: Misuse, what assessment she has made of the ethical implications of imposing legal penalties for use of drugs that have not been shown to cause harm.


Answered by
Kit Malthouse Portrait
Kit Malthouse
This question was answered on 5th July 2021

The Government does not impose legal penalties on possession of drugs unless they have been shown to cause harm or to have the potential to cause harm. The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) regularly provides advice on substances and their appropriate control status, and these are published on the gov.uk website. Drugs which have been controlled under the 1971 Act for a considerable period of time may not have been subject to recent analysis of their harms by the ACMD. The Government introduces new controls over drugs only after considering advice from the ACMD.

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