The Downing Street website confirms that the Drugs Strategy will be published next week:
The PM has announced plans to consult with the public on the Government’s strategy for tackling drugs.
Speaking during today’s PMQs, he said that the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith would publish a consultation document next week, which will outline the Government’s plans for providing drugs education, treating those with drug problems, and supporting communities troubled by drug dealers.
Here’s the exchange from PMQs:
Martin Salter: With eight out of 10 prisoners in some prisons testing positive for class A drugs, the Prime Minister will be acutely aware of how drugs and drug addiction are fuelling crime in our constituencies. However, will he also acknowledge that many of us are concerned that people who suffer from multiple sclerosis and other debilitating conditions have been waiting since 2001 for the cannabis-based medicine Sativex to be licensed for use in the UK, as it is in Canada? Is it not about time that we had a drugs policy that does not criminalise the sick, but tackles the drugs that do the most harm?
The Prime Minister: I am grateful to my hon. Friend, and I would like to pay tribute to the work that he has done on behalf of MS sufferers in all parts of the country. The use of the drug Sativex is now under review by the medical authorities. I can also say to him that next week my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary will publish a consultation document to review our drugs strategy for the future. She will be asking the public to comment on new ways in which we can improve drugs education in this country, give support to people undergoing treatment—we have doubled the numbers in treatment, but we need to do more—and give support to communities that want to chase out drug dealers. As part of that consultation—the Cabinet discussed this yesterday—the Home Secretary will consult on whether it is right that cannabis should be moved from class C to class B.
You can see the Prime Minister’s Spokesperson answering the Parliamentary Lobby’s questions on cannabis classification here.
Media coverage
Media coverage of the announcement has focused on the classification of cannabis and the Home Secretary’s use of that drug when a young woman.
David Blunkett MP, as the Home Secretary who re-classified cannabis, is quoted in The Independent:
Mr Blunkett said he was “quite relaxed” about another review of his decision to downgrade the drug. But he added: “It is worth reflecting that cannabis use among young people has fallen.”
The Daily Mail see this as a victory for their concerns over the links between cannabis and mental health problems amongst some young people. They appear to have spoken to sources close to the Prime Minister and say:
Whitehall sources said the latest move is being driven personally by Mr Brown. They said his ’starting point’ is that reclassification should take place.
The Home Secretary is reported saying that she thought her own drug use was “wrong”, and that she is reported saying:
“I do think there are lots of people who share my concerns that what we have seen in recent years is an increase in the strength of some forms of cannabis.
“We have seen clear evidence of the link to mental health problems and it is right that we should now look at whether or not cannabis should be reclassified from C to B to send out a strong message about its use, to build on the progress we have already seen in actually cutting the use of cannabis and the sort of crime related to wider drug use.”
The Times includes in its coverage of the story a list of senior politicians who have admitted to taking illegal drugs.
Filed under: cannabis, classification, drug strategy
