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Armed Forces Bill

My Lords, Amendments Nos. 21 and 22 seek to make it a defence that a drug was taken on the advice of any superior officer. These two amendments are unnecessary as the situation which I believe the noble Lords are concerned about is where a superior officer advises a serviceman that he should take certain drugs to guard against the effect of chemical or other weapons. If a superior officer advised a serviceman to take such drugs, he would do so on fully considered medical advice. For this reason the serviceman would have a defence to a charge of unfitness through drugs by virtue of subsection (2)(a) if, "““the drug was taken or administered on medical advice and [he] complied with any directions given as part of that advice””." I am confident, therefore, that the clause contains safeguards that address the concerns that noble Lords have raised. I urge the noble Lord to reconsider the amendment. In my letter I made the point that it is important that the advice is given through the chain of command. The chain of command would therefore give the advice based on considered medical advice given to it. Amendment No. 23 provides for an additional requirement when administering drugs for ““operational performance enhancement”” reasons. I take on board the noble Lord’s point about the potential development of such performance enhancing drugs. I have considered the matter further. It is important to state specifically that the drug must be authorised by the Secretary of State and requires the written consent of the individual. There is no policy specifically relating to the authorisation of so-called performance-enhancing drugs. Indeed, we have no agreed definition of what constitutes such a drug. This is a developing area of research and at present we do not sanction their use by service personnel. I believe that the concern is that in the future members of the Armed Forces might be required to take them. As the noble Lord says, this Bill looks to the future and therefore we should think about that matter. We have thought about it. The important point here is that, were we to move in this direction, such drugs would be subject to the current arrangements that cover all drugs. Singling out performance-enhancing drugs is neither helpful nor necessary. No matter what its purpose, each drug should be looked at on its own merits through a medical assessment of the risks and benefits. The assessment would then be made of whether it would be beneficial, or indeed lifesaving, to the servicemen. Normally, as I have said, drugs are administered to members of the Armed Forces on the basis of advice, considered medical advice and then informed consent. Personnel would not normally be ordered to take drugs. If they were to be ordered to take drugs, that would only be done with the express agreement of the Secretary of State acting on legal and medical advice. Apart from the difficulties of the definition of performance-enhancing drugs, I do not see the need for a specific clause about them. I hope that reassures the noble Lord.