Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the report by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs entitled Reducing opioid-related deaths in the UK, published in December 2016, which cited research findings that drug consumption clinics reduce injecting risk behaviours and overdose fatalities and save more money than they cost, on what basis she has decided not to introduce a legal framework for the provision of those clinics; and what assessment she has made of the compatibility of that decision with aims of the Drugs Strategy 2017 to reduce the harms of drugs as part of a balanced approach to tackling drug misuse.

The Government has no plans to change the law on drug consumption rooms. While the UK Government continues to support a range of evidence-based approaches to reduce the health-related harms of drug misuse, we must not do anything that encourages the consumption of drugs. Our policy on drugs is clear – we must prevent drug use in our communities and support people through treatment and recovery. In order to ensure we do all we can to tackle the harms drug misuse causes, Dame Carol Black is leading an independent review, part two of which focuses on treatment and recovery support for people substance misuse problems.