A debate on the Government’s drug strategy consultation was held in the House of Lords on 29th October.
Opening for the Government, Lord Bassam of Brighton informed Peers that: “The responses will help inform the direction and content of the new drugs strategy but within the existing legal framework and the international conventions which underpin it. The new drugs strategy will set out actions to reduce drug-related harm, not a legislative programme.”
Lord Bassam continued “Our final decision on the classification of cannabis will take fully into account the advice from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, which will consider the responses to the consultation as part of its review, while retaining its emphasis on the evidence base. We should not use this debate to second guess the outcome of that review.” (Col. 1252)
Although most of the contributors to the debate acknowledged where there had been progress (particularly in drug treatment), many were critical of the consultation document or highlighted particular areas of concern in drugs policy. The following short extracts are
not intended to summarise individual speeches nor the tone of the debate as a whole.
Extracts from Hansard:
Lord Mancroft: “Consultations are never perfect and are often easy to criticise, but as consultation papers go this one was noticeably thin and woolly. Frankly, its language is bland and while there is nothing much to disagree with, there is nothing much to excite the soul either.” (Col. 1253)
Lord Cobbald: “The consultation paper contains no rehearsal of the arguments for and against the present policy of prohibition; indeed, it seems to be a taboo subject. Prohibition was expected to rid the world of drugs by now. It has manifestly failed, and the Government cannot possibly argue that it has been a success.” (Col. 1257)
Lord Richard: “On any view of the matter, the Government’s drugs policy has transparently failed. I do not particularly blame the Government for this. The same is true of almost every other country on Earth, whether that country has capital punishment for drug dealers and carriers or whether, as in this country, we have strong prison sentences.” (Col. 1259)
Lord Ramsbotham: “Complacency has been mentioned, and the Minister said that the Government are not complacent. However, any document that can show such figures on the appalling number of people still involved in taking these drugs while using the phrase “huge success” is complacent.” (Col. 1265)
Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe: “On the issues that others have addressed tonight, my view is that, regardless of whether we decriminalise drugs or have more effective enforcement, people will continue to suffer from addiction, and they need help to recover from it. After all, alcohol is legal and has been deregulated.” (Col. 1267)
Lord Adebowale: “The areas of people’s lives that need specific support are employment, housing support, healthcare and issues such as support on leaving the criminal justice system... Those services are the stepping stone allowing current and former drug users to become citizens again—positive citizens—and that must be the aim of the Government’s drug strategy, along with moving them away from the social exclusion that substance misuse can create.” (col. 1271)
The Earl of Erroll: “On the demand side, why are so many young people turning to drugs? I think that in many cases it is because they are bored out of their skulls. The Health and Safety Executive has closed down things that were fun and exciting to the extent that even the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents says that our play places are so safe that people are now playing on railway lines to get their kicks and that we need to make play a little more dangerous.” (Col. 1276)
Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer: “…we must take this issue out of politics…The Government are setting up a climate change body which will be independent of politics, because hard choices will have to be made there. Perhaps the same should happen with this issue.”(Col. 1280).
Baroness Hanham: “The Government’s consultation paper suggests that drug-related deaths have fallen from 1,538 in 1999 to 1,506 in 2005 and that there has been a 20 per cent reduction in the number of young people taking drugs…But I put it to the Minister that after six years of a supposedly successful policy, saving only 32 lives, even if they are special, may not be entirely the progress which we would have wished for.” (Col. 1282)
For more information please contact Ruth Goldsmith in the DrugScope Press Office on 020 7940 7517 (07736 895563 out of hours) or at press@drugscope.org.uk
