Home Affairs Committee, House of Commons UK
Wednesday 22 May
"The Government's Drugs Policy: Is it working?"
Report published
The Home Affairs Select Committee has called for a major shake-up of the Government's drugs policy, concentrating on
education and harm reduction for users rather than criminal sanctions.
In its long awaited report, supported by all but one member, the Committee has recommended that cannabis be reclassified
as a class C drug and ecstasy as class B. It also recommends the creation of a new offence of "supply for gain" in order
that the distinction between so-called social supply and dealing is clearly reflected in the available penalties.
The Committee says the main focus should be on the 250,000 "problematic users"-mainly heroin addicts-whose habit causes
most damage to themselves and others. It recommends a trial programme of carefully supervised heroin prescription to
addicts along the lines of those under way in The Netherlands and Switzerland.
The Committee also recommends a pilot programme of safe-injecting rooms in order to get chronic heroin users off the
street and into a more orderly environment. This would require amendments to the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 allowing drugs
agencies to work with users and to allow pharmacists to supply drug users with goods that reduce risk.
However, the Committee firmly rejected calls for legalisation and regulation. It said: "We acknowledge there are some
attractive arguments. However, those who urge this step upon us are...asking us to gamble the undoubted potential gains
against the inevitability of a significant increase in the number of users, especially among the very young". The
Committee declined to recommend decriminalisation on the same grounds.
Chairman, Chris Mullin MP said: "All drug use is to a greater or lesser extent harmful and should be discouraged.
However, we have to face the fact that, whether we like it or not, large numbers of young people take drugs. As far as
users are concerned, our priorities should be realistic education, readily available treatment and harm reduction. Above
all, we need to focus on that relatively small minority of drug users who are making a misery of their own lives and
those of others. The criminal law should be reserved primarily for dealers. Government policy is already moving in that
direction and I hope this report will encourage ministers to go further".
David Cameron MP, Conservative member of the Committee said: "Drugs policy in this country has been failing for decades.
Drug abuse has increased massively, the number of drug-related deaths has risen substantially and drug-related crime
accounts for up to half of all acquisitive crime. I hope that our report will encourage fresh thinking and a new
approach. We need to get away from entrenched positions and try to reduce the harm that drugs do both to users and
society at large."
Liberal Democrat member of the Committee Bob Russell MP said: "The inquiry confirmed that the overwhelming majority of
the population does not take illegal drugs, and never has done. Even among young people it was reassuring that most of
them do not take drugs. I recognise, however, that there is a minority which uses harmful drugs for self-abuse of their
bodies and minds. Balanced laws and regulations need to take account of such use and misuse. The overall cost to
society, specifically to the National Health Service and the consequences of criminal activity, caused by the current
levels of drug abuse has to be addressed. The only acceptable use of drugs is for medical purposes."
SUMMARY OF KEY CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
1. We believe that drugs policy should primarily be addressed to dealing with the 250,000 problematic drug users
(paragraph 38).
2. While acknowledging that there may come a day when the balance may tip in favour of legalising and regulating some
types of presently illegal drugs, we decline to recommend this drastic step (paragraph 66).
3. We accept that to decriminalise possession of drugs for personal use would send the wrong message to the majority of
young people...and that it would inevitably lead to an increase in drug abuse. We, therefore, reject decriminalisation
(paragraph 74).
4. We are not persuaded that an intent to supply should be presumed on the basis of amounts of drugs found; we therefore
recommend that the offences of simple possession and possession with intent to supply should be retained without
alteration (paragraph 77).
5. We recommend that a new offence is created of "supply for gain", which would be used to prosecute large scale
commercial suppliers (paragraph 83).
6. We support...the Home Secretary's proposal to reclassify cannabis from Class B to Class C (paragraph 121).
7. We...recommend that ecstasy is reclassified as a Class B drug (paragraph 135).
8. We recommend that the number of treatment places for cocaine users is substantially increased. We recommend that
resources are channelled into researching and piloting innovative treatment interventions for cocaine users (paragraph
140).
9. We consider that the risks posed by cocaine to the user and to other people merit it remaining a Class A drug
(paragraph 141).
10. We recommend that more treatment places are created for crack users and that resources be channelled into
researching and piloting more effective treatments. We further recommend that in the meantime efforts are redoubled to
extinguish supply of crack cocaine (paragraph 147).
11. We recommend that the Government substantially increases the funding for treatment for heroin addicts and ensure
that methadone treatments and complementary therapies are universally available to those who need them (paragraph 160).
12. We recommend that appropriate treatment forms a mandatory part of custodial sentences and that offenders have access
to consistent treatment approaches within the prison estate as well as outside it. This should include strictly
supervised methadone treatment in the first instance (paragraph 169).
13. We recommend that a proper evaluation is conducted of diamorphine prescribing for heroin addiction in the UK...as
compared with methadone prescribing regimes (paragraph 178).
14. We recommend that the guidance and training provided to practitioners prescribing diamorphine to heroin addicts is
strengthened (paragraph 179).
15. We recommend that an evaluated pilot programme of safe injecting houses for heroin users is established without
delay and that if...this is successful, the programme is extended across the country (paragraph 186).
16. We conclude that the Dutch and Swiss evidence provides a strong basis on which to conduct a pilot here in Britain of
highly structured heroin prescribing to addicts. We recommend that a pilot along the lines of the Swiss or Dutch model
is conducted in the UK. Should such a pilot generate the positive results which one would expect...we recommend that
such a system should supersede the little-used "British system" of licencing (paragraph 190).
17. We believe that all drugs education material should be based on the premise that any drug use can be harmful, and
should be discouraged (paragraph 201).
18. We conclude that General Practitioners are, for the most part, inadequately trained to deal with drug misuse. We
recommend that training in substance misuse is embedded in the undergraduate medical curriculum and postgraduate General
Practice curriculum...We recommend that the Department of Health funds
more training courses in substance misuse for existing General Practitioners (paragraph 218).
19. We recommend that a target is added to the National Strategy explicitly aimed at harm reduction and public health
(paragraph 245).
20. We recommend that the Government reviews Section 9A of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, with a view to repealing it, to
allow for the provision of drugs paraphernalia which reduces the harm caused by drugs (paragraph 252).
21. We recommend that Section 8 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 is amended to ensure that drugs agencies can conduct
harm reduction work and provide safe injecting areas for users without fear of being prosecuted (paragraph 257).
22. We recommend that the Home Office and the Department of Health urgently review the current legal framework on the
dispensation of controlled drugs by community pharmacists (paragraph 260).
23. We recommend that Drug Abstinence Orders are amended to carry the requirement of access to treatment (paragraph
264).
24. We recommend that the Government initiates a discussion within the Commission on Narcotic Drugs of alternative
ways-including the possibility of legalisation and regulation-to tackle the global drugs dilemma (paragraph 267).
Note to Editors
Details of this inquiry were set out in press notice no. 1.
Home Affairs Committee membership and links to the text of Committee reports, minutes of evidence and
press notices can be accessed through the Internet at Parliament's website above. Also available on the
Committee's Internet site are past reports and uncorrected transcripts of evidence given by Ministers.
Home Affairs Committee
The Home Affairs Committee is appointed by the House of Commons to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of
the Home Office and the Lord Chancellor's Department, and their associated public bodies; and the administration and
expenditure of the Attorney General's Office, the Treasury Solicitor's Department, the Crown Prosecution Service and the
Serious Fraud Office.
Membership
Chairman: Mr Chris Mullin MP (Labour, Sunderland South)
Mr David Cameron MP (Conservative, Witney)
Mrs Janet Dean MP (Labour, Burton)
Mr Humfrey Malins MP (Conservative, Woking)
Bridget Prentice MP (Labour, Lewisham East)
Mr Gwyn Prosser MP (Labour, Dover)
Bob Russell MP (Liberal Democrat, Colchester)
Mr Marsha Singh MP (Labour, Bradford West)
Angela Watkinson MP (Conservative, Upminster)
Mr Tom Watson MP (Labour, West Bromwich East)
David Winnick MP (Labour, Walsall North)
Ends