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Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (Amendment No. 2) Order 2010

My Lords, we discussed the last misuse of drugs order less than four months ago. Speaking on behalf of my Liberal Democrat colleagues, I supported the order, so I am a little confused by what the noble Lord has just said. There were several comments about designer drugs and so-called legal highs, and that the so-called designers would always work on the next drug. Those predictions were clearly right. I am very happy to support this order, but I have a number of questions, to some extent following from the previous order so that the House can understand the success or otherwise—I hope success—of that approach. The Minister has told us that 115 kilograms of mephedrone/cathinone derivatives have been seized. I know that it is asking her to prove a negative, but does she have any information as to how much might be getting through—the converse of that coin? What steps have been taken to publicise the dangers of legal highs? Welcome was given around the House to the steps that were being taken then, and the noble Lord, Lord Bates, mentioned the use of social media, which struck me as entirely sensible in this context. She has mentioned today steps that might be taken by trading standards officers under consumer protection legislation. Naphyrone and naphthylpyrovalerone analogues apparently have no legitimate purpose in the same way as mephedrone. I do not suppose that they are any more effective as bath salts or fertilisers than mephedrone. Have trading standards officers in fact had any success in using their powers under consumer protection legislation? I hope—and I think that I understand this correctly from what the Minister said—that enforcement will concentrate on dealers rather than on users. She mentioned the border agency and SOCA; clearly enforcement is a matter for them as well as for the police, but I think that it is entirely right to tackle dealers first and most importantly. Of course, none of this addresses the underlying issue that this is a public health matter as well as one of large-scale criminality and the illegal drugs trade. We have in this House recently debated alternatives to prison and we have heard many times of the links between drugs and crime to support drug habits. I have recently heard that sending just one in 10 drug users to residential rehabilitation instead of prison would save something of the order of £40 million a year. I support the order and welcome debating the more permanent steps which the Government will take. They extend beyond the health issues that the Minister mentioned to matters involving the Ministry of Justice, the Department for Education and so on. Drugs are such a complicated issue that they need a very thoughtful, very broad-based approach. I am happy to support the measure.