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Drug Classification

We will have to wait and see, but the Government have no intention of reclassifying ecstasy. I was asked to confirm that the ACMD was going to look at ecstasy as part of its systematic review. I can confirm that it will. Furthermore, in respect of the Committee’s report, I point out that the systematic review of individual drugs within the classification system is an important step forward. I hope that that is helpful. I know that it is a bit pedantic—that seems to be the favourite word at the moment—but I shall continue with the approach that I have taken so far. It is very important that I go through all the points that have been made; I know that a lot of people are listening with particular interest. The report said that there was a need for better engagement between the ACMD and other Departments. Recently, the council has held meetings with officials from five Departments—the Department for Education and Skills, the Department for Transport, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, the Department of Health and the Home Office. The hon. Member for Oxford, West and Abingdon spoke about how best to deal with drugs in schools. Such issues could be on the agenda of those more frequent interdepartmental meetings, particularly between the Home Office and the DFES. Hopefully those issues can be addressed. Recently, the ACMD held discussions with the DCMS on steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs in the run-up to the Olympics. There is also an ongoing invitation to officials from the DFES and the DOH to attend ACMD meetings. I hope that that will start to address some of the fears and concerns of the hon. Member for Harrogate and Knaresborough and his Committee about the lack of liaison between Departments. The hon. Gentleman wanted the ACMD to look more at social harm and to engage with stakeholders. I can confirm that it will do that. He asked also about how the ACMD operates. I can tell him that the Home Office non-departmental public body review has taken place and the results are currently with the Home Secretary for his consideration. That is an important point, but I cannot say any more than that. Let me turn to what I think is the crux of the matter. I hope that the hon. Gentleman will have a couple of minutes to respond and to express agreement with this: of all the recommendations in the Committee’s report, the point about our drugs policy needing to address not only the classification system, but harm reduction, has had the greatest impact. I say to my hon. Friend the Member for Newport, West that we accept absolutely that we need more than just a criminal justice solution to the drugs problem. As the hon. and learned Member for Harborough knows from his court experience, that is obvious to everyone. A criminal justice solution alone is not appropriate. The Committee said that it wanted greater emphasis on harm reduction, treatment and other alternatives. We agree with that absolutely. We are trying to increase the number of people receiving treatment and to ensure that that treatment is more effective. However, alongside that, we want a strong law enforcement and criminal justice approach. For want of repeating myself, in my view—I say this as Minister with responsibility for drugs as well as an individual—the debate is plagued by the ““either/or”” argument. Of course, we need a criminal justice approach. When I went to the all-party group on drugs misuse, my hon. Friend the Member for Bolton, South-East heard me say that we need a strong criminal justice and law enforcement approach to deal with those who deal drugs in our communities. All of our constituents would expect that; they do not want people dealing drugs with nothing done about it. On the other hand, however, they accept that those arrested, charged by the police or who come into contact with the criminal justice system do not suddenly stop being addicts. They know that as well as we do. The criminal justice system must deal with those individuals—both dealers and users—in the best way possible, which is why we set up the drugs intervention programme in order to strike a balance between relying on the criminal justice system and encouraging more people into treatment. Alongside a tough law-enforcement approach we have tried to improve, and increase the level of, treatment. We have tried to back that up with money. Let us consider the pooled treatment budget, which comes mainly from the DOH, but also the Home Office. In 2001-02, expenditure in this area was £142 million. This year it is £398 million—a 280 per cent increase. The budget for the drugs intervention programme, which did not exist until 2003, is now £149 million. We have also the £55 million budget for the young persons substance misuse plan. Our task is to relate the classification system to the drugs intervention programme, about which I shall say more in a moment. We know that if we want a successful drugs policy, the classification system must be robust—we have tried to start to take account of the points made by the Select Committee—–but alongside that must be a plethora of other policies and a welter of other initiatives. We need not only a criminal justice system that is based on the classification system, but a treatment system whereby people go into treatment and are kept in treatment, and in which there are wraparound services to improve people’s chances of success with that treatment. This is about not only treatment, but all the other measures, such as employment, benefits, housing, confidence and self-esteem. Yes, we can talk about how drugs should be classified in the system. We could have a huge debate on virtually every drug and whether it should be in class A, B or C, but we are plagued by that debate. Of course, the criminal justice system, linked to the classification system, has a role to play, but alongside that all the other aspects of policy are necessary and important. That is why we have a wide-ranging drugs strategy, of which the classification system is one part. We have tried to develop the other strands to it and we will certainly continue to do so. I welcome the Select Committee report. I hope that what I have said shows that what the Committee said in its report has led to changes in the Government’s policy and practice and caused us to think about the operation of the classification system, even without the fundamental review that I know the hon. Member for Harrogate and Knaresborough was hoping for and expecting.