Oral question asked in the House of Commons, by Denis MacShane (Labour). It was answered on Monday, 9 June 2008 on behalf of the Home Office.

Drugs Testing

Question: Could we have a little cross-party support on this issue? The hon. Member for Altrincham and Sale, West (Mr. Brady) is right. Would my hon. Friend the Minister support the views of the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Ian Blair, on celebrity cocaine users and deplore the rather odd jobsworth response of the Director of Public Prosecutions, who said that it is very difficult to deal with those celebrities? The plain fact is that our young people should see celebrity drug users—the Kate Mosses, Amy Winehouses and Notting Hill millionaires at their dinner parties—as an example not to be followed. Internationally, if we want to reduce supply we have to reduce demand. The Metropolitan Police Commissioner is right and the DPP is wrong.

Answer: Of course, people who act as role models for young people and others have to accept the responsibility that they have. One would hope that that applied to the people to whom the Metropolitan Police Commissioner referred. On cocaine in general, class A drug use has remained stable overall. The problem that we have had is the use not of crack cocaine but of powder cocaine, which is the drug that the commissioner was referring to. One way we are trying to tackle the problem is a campaign that I recently launched with the Colombian President, which I know that my right hon. Friend knows about. It is a shared responsibility campaign so that those who take powder cocaine, believing that their doing so has no effect on anybody else, can reflect on the effect that it has not only on crime in their areas but on Colombia. It wrecks that country and prevents it from moving forward in the way the Government would wish. Perhaps those who take cocaine should reflect on the impact on Colombia as well as on their communities.

Secondary information

Type: Oral question
Reference: 477 c6
Session: 2007-08
Oral question type: Supplementary
Chamber / Committee: House of Commons chamber
Subjects: Crime prevention Crime Drugs Entertainers Misuse Colombia Cocaine Pop stars Police custody Testing Opioids
Link: View this Oral question on www.publications.parliament.uk