Oral question asked in the House of Commons, by Lord Brady of Altrincham (Conservative). It was answered on Monday, 9 June 2008 on behalf of the Home Office.

Drugs Testing

Question: As a Greater Manchester MP, may I also express my deep condolences to the family and colleagues of the officer who died this morning? The Minister said that 38 per cent. of those who are tested for class A drugs when in custody prove positive. Do not the huge increase in the numbers of those found to be taking those drugs and the high percentage of people who are tested show that it is time to look again at the trigger offences? We have already heard about the number of alcohol-influenced offences on our streets; does not this show that an alarming number of cases are affected by drugs, too? Surely we need to know more about how many people, and which people, are committing such crimes.

Answer: The hon. Gentleman knows about these things, and he knows that the trigger offences have been designated according to the likelihood that they are linked to drugs misuse. He will also know that although we have a list of trigger offences that automatically mean that offenders are tested for drug misuse when arrested, it is up to an inspector—or anyone above that rank in the police force—to test those people if they believe that the offence has been contributed to by drug misuse. The offences mentioned by the hon. Gentleman, such as alcohol-related offences—or, indeed, public order and violence offences—are not trigger offences, but an inspector in the custody suite can choose to test for drugs if he thinks it appropriate.

Secondary information

Type: Oral question
Reference: 477 c5-6
Session: 2007-08
Oral question type: 1st Supplementary
Chamber / Committee: House of Commons chamber
Subjects: Crime prevention Crime Drugs Misuse Police custody Testing Cocaine Opioids
Link: View this Oral question on www.publications.parliament.uk