Safe drug consumption rooms should be piloted in the UK, say MPs

The Home Affairs Committee has published a report recommending a pilot in Glasgow is supported by Westminster.


Christina O'Neill
3 days ago

Drugs law must be reformed, MPs have concluded as they recommended greater testing at festivals as well as the use of safe spaces across the UK for users to take substances under medical supervision.

The Scottish Government has been pressing for a so-called safe consumption facility to be set up, with efforts on this having so far been blocked by Westminster.

But the Home Affairs Committee has now published a report recommending a pilot in Glasgow is supported by Westminster and jointly funded by both governments.

If the UK Government remains unwilling to support the pilot, the power to establish it should be devolved to the Scottish Government, the committee said.

More widely, the MPs recommended pilots of such facilities – where drug users can take substances under medical supervision with the aim that the environment will help prevent drug-related overdose and other drug-related harms – in areas across the UK where local government and others deem there is a need.

Figures published last week revealed Scotland’s largest ever fall in drug deaths, with data from National Records of Scotland (NRS) showing a total of 1,051 deaths due to drug misuse in 2022 – a drop of 279 on the previous year


But while the number of deaths linked to drugs misuse is now at the lowest it has been since 2017, the NRS report made clear that the rate of deaths is still “much higher” than it was when recording the data began in 1996.

The committee report, published on Thursday, said: “We recommend the Government support a pilot in Glasgow by creating a legislative pathway under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 that enables such a facility to operate legally.”

MPs said the pilot “must be evaluated in order to establish a reliable evidence base on the utility of a safe consumption facility in the UK”.

Westminster blocked a so-called safe consumption facility being set up in Glasgow

Responding to the recommendation, the Government insisted “there is no safe way to take illegal drugs” and they have “no plans to consider” the safe consumption facility recommendation.

More widely, the committee said both the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001 require reform.

They added: “We recommend that the UK Government reform the 1971 Act and 2001 Regulations in a way that promotes a greater role for public health in our response to drugs, whilst maintaining our law enforcement to tackling the illicit production and supply of controlled drugs.”

The report also recommended that the Home Office and Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) “jointly establish a national drug checking service in England to enable people to submit drug samples by post anonymously”.

They said a UK-wide drug checking service would be the most effective approach, encouraging the UK Government and devolved Governments to “consider jointly establishing such a service”.

Additionally, the MPs said on-site drug checking services at temporary events like music festivals and within the night-time economy should be rolled out, recommending that the Home Office “establish a dedicated licensing scheme for drug checking at such events before the start of the summer 2024 festival season”.

Drug policy should be the joint responsibility of the Home Office and DHSC, with a minister sitting across both departments, MPs said.

The report stated that existing classifications of controlled substances should be reviewed by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) to ensure they accurately reflect the risk of harm, with further reviews every 10 years.

MPs welcomed the UK Government’s “commitment to reducing barriers to researching psychedelic drugs” and recommended they are “urgently” reclassified “in order to facilitate research on the medical or therapeutic value of these drugs”.

The committee said it was “disappointed” that the Home Office had “repeatedly refused” to publish a 2016 report by the ACMD – a body which it said seeks to provide scientific, evidence-based recommendations to support the development of evidence-based drug policy.

Calling for the report to be handed over – at least on a confidential basis to the committee – the MPs said withholding it “contravenes established practice and undermines the ACMD’s transparency”.

While welcoming the 10-Year Drug Strategy’s commitment to tackling county lines, the committee said the Government can “go further to prevent children and young people from becoming exploited”, adding that it is “vital” they – as people either exploited or at risk of exploitation by criminal gangs – are kept out of the criminal justice system.

Committee chairwoman, Dame Diana Johnson said: “The criminal justice system will need to continue to do all it can to break up the criminal gangs that drive the trade in illicit drugs. However, it must also recognise that many children and young people involved need to be supported to escape not punished for their involvement.

“Fundamentally, we need to have the right interventions in place to help people break free from the terrible cycles of addiction and criminality that drug addiction can cause. Simply attempting to remove drugs from people’s live hasn’t worked. They need the right support to let them deal with addiction, but also psychosocial support and interventions that deal with the underlying trauma that may have led them to drugs in the first place.

“Over the course of the inquiry, we have seen a number of positive, locally-developed schemes make a real difference to those suffering from addiction and the wider communities. The Government should learn from the success as it develops best practice that can be implemented nationwide.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “There is no safe way to take illegal drugs, which devastate lives, ruin families and damage communities, and we have no plans to consider this.

“Our 10-year Drugs Strategy set out ambitious plans, backed with a record £3bn funding over three years to tackle the supply of illicit drugs through relentless policing action and building a world-class system of treatment and recovery to turn people’s lives around and prevent crime.”

Drugs and Alcohol Policy Minister Elena Whitham said: “We are doing everything within our powers to tackle drug deaths in Scotland, including investing an additional £250m in our National Mission to save and improve lives.

“We welcome this report from the Home Affairs Committee which endorses our position on safer drug consumption facilities (SDCFs) and supports the proposal to pilot such a facility in Scotland. We have long called for agreement from the UK Government to allow us to do this, whether to support us in establishing a pilot or through devolving the necessary powers to allow us to do so.

“It has always been in the UK Government’s power to accelerate the delivery of an SDCF. If it was serious about looking to improve outcomes for people affected by problem substance use it could use powers reserved to it to support what we are already doing within devolved powers, or devolve the appropriate powers to us so we could move to implement a facility as quickly as possible.”

UK

Deaths on the NHS waiting list double in five years as critics slam ‘decade of underinvestment’ in health service

31 August 2023

The estimated number of waiting list deaths has doubled in five years. Picture: Alamy

By Jenny Medlicott

@JennyMedlicott

An estimated number of 120,000 people died last year while on the NHS waiting list for treatment, new figures suggest.

The number of patients who died while waiting for treatment has doubled in five years, according to new data.

The total number is higher than when the country was in lockdown, as health leaders have attributed the rise to struggles to clear the backlog after the pandemic and NHS strikes.

It comes despite Rishi Sunak’s pledge to cut the NHS waiting list as one of his five key pledges ahead of the next general election.

“These figures are a stark reminder about the potential repercussions of long waits for care. They are heartbreaking for the families who will have lost loved ones and deeply dismaying for NHS leaders, who continue to do all they can in extremely difficult circumstances,” Matthew Taylor, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said.

“Covid will have had an impact on these figures – but we can’t get away from the fact that a decade of underinvestment in the NHS has left it with not enough staff, beds and vital equipment, as well as a crumbling estate in urgent need of repair and investment.”

The government has introduced a variety of reforms in a bid to tackle the backlog.

Patients facing the longest waits have been offered the opportunity to travel to different hospitals to skip waiting list queues.

More than 100 ‘one stop shops’ have been opened to carry out scans and tests.

But despite these reforms ministers have warned that waiting lists are anticipated to increase further this winter and may even hit record highs.

Read more: Lucy Letby inquiry given powers to compel NHS bosses to face questioning over baby murders

Read more: Home Office set to make it easier for police chiefs to sack dodgy cops found guilty of misconduct

NHS waiting list deaths have soared in the last five years. Picture: Alamy

The figure was revealed after a Freedom of Information request from the Labour Party revealed more than 30,000 patients who died last year were on waiting lists in England across 35 NHS trusts.

Labour extrapolated this number and found it suggests across all 138 trusts in the country, the total figure for waiting list deaths is an estimated 121,000. Around 40,000 of those who died had waited more than 18 weeks for treatment at their time of death.

It comes after the total number of deaths of patients on waiting lists was an estimated 117,000 in 2021 during the continued struggle against the pandemic.

Whereas five years ago, a similar investigation found that figure to be around 60,000 - meaning the number has seemingly doubled in this time.

The number of people on waiting lists has almost doubled in this time too, rising from four million in 2017-18 to 7.6 million this year.

“Record numbers of people are spending their final months in pain and agony, waiting for treatment that never arrives,” shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said.

The number has more than doubled in five years. Picture: Alamy

“The basic promise of the NHS – that it will be there for us when we need it – has been broken. The longer the Conservatives are in office, the longer patients will wait.

“Only Labour can rescue the NHS from this crisis and restore it to good health. We will train the staff needed to treat patients on time again, and reform the service to make it fit for the future.”

Caroline Abrahams, the charity director at Age UK, said: “In the wake of the pandemic, literally millions of older people are stuck on waiting lists for diagnostics and treatment they badly need, so it’s very sad but not surprising that the numbers dying while still on the list are so high.

“In addition, the lives of many more are being blighted by disability, pain and distress, and that’s no way to spend your final months and years.”

Almost one million NHS appointments have been cancelled since NHS strikes started last year.

An NHS spokesman said of the new estimated figures: “This analysis, based on figures from just a quarter of hospital trusts, does not demonstrate a link between waits for elective treatment and deaths, and it would be misleading to suggest it does given that the data do not include the cause of death or any further details on the person’s age and medical conditions.

“The vast majority of the waiting list – about four in five patients – is seen and treated in an outpatient setting rather than requiring inpatient admission, with the latest data showing more than one million patients were treated within 18 weeks in June.”

Apprentice star and Government adviser join Labour's economic council

The group will be tasked with advising Scottish Labour on economic policy.

Labour: Anas Sarwar will make the announcement during an event on Thursday.
PA Media

3 days ago

A businessman who has grilled contestants on the Apprentice and another tasked with leading the implementation of a Scottish Government initiative will form part of Scottish Labour’s new economic council, the party has said.

Sandy Begbie – the chief executive of Scottish Financial Enterprise and the man appointed chair of the implementation group behind the Young Person’s Guarantee – will be part of the panel.

The £70m guarantee was announced by Nicola Sturgeon to counter the economic impact of the pandemic by pledging that 16 to 24-year-olds would have an offer of work, education or training.

Mr Begbie will be joined by former media executive Mike Soutar, who also interviews candidates on the hit BBC show fronted by Sir Alan Sugar, and Scottish Chambers of Commerce chief executive Liz Cameron.

The group – which will also bring together Edinburgh International Festival head Fran Hegyi, PR executive Mary McGowne, facilities management boss Willie Haughey, quarry firm head Paul McManus, Walker’s Shortbread chairman Bob Brannan and union official Karen Whitefield – will be tasked with providing advice to the party on its economic policy.

In a speech unveiling the panel in Glasgow on Thursday, leader Anas Sarwar is expected to say his party is “unashamedly” “pro-business and pro-growth”, and the tenets of “social change and a strong economy” will guide Labour’s policy.

He will add: “Nearly a quarter of a century on since devolution, our Scottish Parliament has overseen sweeping social change, but we have been very much a social policy Parliament rather than an economic policy Parliament.

“And that has let down Scottish employers, weakening our potential for growth.

“With the vast powers that Holyrood has and during a cost-of-living crisis – and, let’s not forget, a cost-of-doing-business crisis – it’s vital that we debate how to deliver economic growth. That’s what Scottish businesses deserve.

“Not brinksmanship or constitutional uncertainty and gameplaying, but a government that uses the levers we have in Scotland to deliver growth, a government that understands what businesses want, and a government that works in partnership with business to deliver what’s best for Scotland.

“That is what Scottish Labour will prioritise.”

Anas Sarwar said party politics are not important as he plans how to deliver economic prosperity for Scotland.

Announcing the “extraordinary array of talent” on the panel, Sarwar is expected to say: “Over the coming months, Scottish Labour will formulate our economic growth plan, taking on board the independent advice we receive. I thank them all for their time and for sharing their knowledge.

“They all remain firmly independent, and that is as important for me as much as it is for them, because that is key to the partnership approach I want to take with business.

“This isn’t about party politics – this is about delivering for Scotland.”

He will also hit out at the Scottish Government, ahead of First Minister Humza Yousaf’s first Programme for Government next week, saying: “Unfortunately, right now Scotland is being let down by two failing governments.

“Two governments in Westminster and Holyrood which are bad for business, bad for jobs, and bad for growth. They are delivering low growth, low productivity, and high levels of poverty.

“A First Minister preparing to deliver his Programme for Government next week when he doesn’t know what direction his government is going in anymore, and a Prime Minister trying – and failing – to fix the economic mistakes that his own party made.

“They are too distracted by the extraordinary chaos in their own parties, and simply don’t have the energy, the leadership, or the willpower to take the necessary action to get us through the crises we face.”

Scottish Conservative finance spokeswoman Liz Smith said Labour had “an extraordinary cheek” to claim to be pro-business and growth “when they have announced their intention to shut down one of Scotland’s largest industries, the oil and gas sector”.

She added: “Time and again, Anas Sarwar’s party have voted with the SNP and their anti-growth Green allies on measures that have undermined Scotland’s economy. It’s only now, in a bid to look electable, that they are advocating credible proposals which we have long advanced.

“It’s clear that on this, as on most other matters, Labour will say anything to improve their position, but cannot be trusted to hold to it.”

Responding to Anas Sarwar’s speech trail, Collette Stevenson MSP said: “For Anas Sarwar to sneer at the SNP Government’s track record of life-changing social policies tells you all you need to know about the easily-bought values of Scottish Labour, who have clearly been taking notes from Keir Starmer with this blatant swing to the right.

“Once upon a time Labour styled itself as the party that puts people before profit, however now, as these latest comments from Anas Sarwar show, they appear to be in competition with the Tories with their economic plans- and all at the expense of Scottish people, no doubt, who are already shouldering the cost of a hard-Brexit they don’t vote for, that both Labour and the Tories support.

“While Scottish Labour and the Tories decide between themselves which party is more pro-business, the SNP will continue to be the party which is unashamedly pro-people; understanding that progressive social policies are the cornerstones of any thriving economy, and fair society.”

 

Leeds: Child asylum seekers wrongly classed as adults - report

Published
2 days ago

IMAGE SOURCE,LIZ WEDDON/UNSPLASH (VIA LDRS)

Image caption,

30 unaccompanied child asylum seekers were put up in Leeds hotels, according to the city council

By David Spereall

BBC

Local Democracy Reporting Service

Thirty child asylum seekers were wrongly categorised as adults by the Home Office, according to a council report.

The children, all thought to have arrived in the UK without their parents, were placed in Leeds hotels with adult strangers.

The Home Office said assessing age was a "very difficult task".

The report will be considered by Leeds City Council's children and young people scrutiny board next week.

IMAGE SOURCE,BENJAMIN ELLIOT/UNSPLASH (VIA LDRS)

Image caption,

Five hotels in Leeds are being used to house asylum seekers

Unaccompanied children who arrive in the country are meant to be placed in the care of a local council.

The report states: "At the point of arrival, the Home Office, in their view, have assessed everyone as an 'adult' to ensure that when dispersed they are not moving unaccompanied children.

"However, upon arrival in Leeds the hotels' welfare officers are raising concerns when they suspect some individuals are children."

According to the report, in 2023 Children's Services received 35 referrals raising concerns about the assessed age of some individuals.

The report states that using the "available guidance" they deemed 30 out of 35 individuals to be under 18.

As a result, those individuals were removed from hotels and placed into the care of the local authority, the council said.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, five hotels in Leeds are being used to house asylum seekers, providing a total of 400 beds. The council report says the Home Office had recently decided to double that capacity.

The report adds: "Children's Services can therefore safely assume that there is likely to be a significant increase of unaccompanied children dispersed into those hotels who have been wrongly assessed as over 18 years of age."

'Hasty decision-making'

A Home Office spokesperson said: "It's vital that we remove incentives for adults to pretend to be children to remain in the UK - in the year ending June 2023, 49% of asylum applicants whose age was disputed were found to be adults.

"Given the very difficult task of assessing someone's age, we are also considering introducing scientific age assessment methods to widen the evidence available to decision-makers and improve their decisions."

A Refugee Council spokesperson said: "We support many children in the asylum system who are disbelieved about their age.

"As a result of hasty decision-making that sees the Home Office mistaking them for adults, hundreds of refugee children are at risk of abuse and neglect. No child should be denied the support they need or forced to live with adult strangers in asylum accommodation, where they are vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.

"These are children who simply want to start rebuilding their lives after the traumatic experiences they have been through."

Without the Brexit glue, support for the Conservative Party is coming unstuck


31 Aug 2023
AUTHOR
Sophie Stowers


Sophie Stowers analyses UK in a Changing Europe’s latest polling on public attitudes towards Brexit with Redfield and Wilton. She highlights that keeping the Conservative Party’s 2019 coalition of voters together will be difficult given that the salience of Brexit has diminished, and the government isn’t seen to have managed withdrawal from the EU well.

The performance of the Conservative Party in 2019 was notable not just for the number of seats won (up 48 from 2017), but where these where gained. In knocking down the so-called ‘red wall’, the Conservatives did not just advance in parts of the country that had been Labour for decades, but brought together a group of voters that, in any other election, would never coalesce.

Boris Johnson’s electoral coalition was socioeconomically disparate, split on social values, and scattered across the country. But they were united by one issue: Brexit. Going into that election, 63% of voters said Brexit was one of the most important issues facing the country. The Conservatives managed to monopolise the support of Leave voters, increasing their vote share in new Leave-voting constituencies, whilst simultaneously keeping hold of almost all the Brexiteers that had supported them in 2017.

Yet the victory was always something of a mixed blessing. As long as Brexit was the issue of the day, the coalition held together. But as Coronavirus, concerns about the cost of living and rising inequality, and an inflationary crisis came to the fore, it began to crumble.

As our last round of polling with Redfield and Wilton showed, the salience of Brexit has diminished. Not only that, but attachment to Leave/Remain identities has weakened.

It is in this context that the divergent economic preferences of the 2019 coalition have revealed themselves, with voters – and Tory backbenchers – split about the path the government should take on the economy. With no Brexit ‘glue’, Leave voters are no longer wedded to the Conservative Party. Indeed, our new polling with Redfield and Wilton shows a declining attachment to the Tories.



With the Conservatives already lagging behind Labour in national polls, reinvigorating the 2019 electoral coalition could be key to the party’s chances of success at the next election. But what can they do to hold on to the ‘red wall’?

The most obvious option is to start banging on about Brexit again. Though the issue has declined in salience for the public as a whole, many Leave voters (57%) and 2019 Conservative voters (63%) cite the issue as either ‘very’ or ‘fairly’ important when it comes to choosing who they will vote for at the next general election.

Moreover, almost a third of 2019 Conservative voters think Labour wants a closer relationship with the EU (38% even think that Labour wants to ultimately re-join). The (admittedly quiet) noises Labour has made about closer cooperation with the EU could be weaponised during an election campaign.

Yet there are two faults with this strategy. First, while Brexit is undoubtedly important to 2019 Conservatives, it still lags behind healthcare, housing and education: domestic issues are the priority, as with the wider public. To go ‘all out’ on Brexit could simply make the government seem out-of-touch.

Second, many 2019 Conservative voters – and Leave voters in general – aren’t exactly delighted with how the government has handled Brexit. 57% of Leavers either disapprove of, or are neutral about, the government’s approach. Our polling with Public First shows that just 18% Leave voters would say Brexit has gone ‘well’ or ‘very well’.

And, when asked how the UK has changed since we left the European Union, 2019 Conservative voters are more likely to think that the economy, quality of the NHS, and the cost of living in the UK have deteriorated. Drawing attention to Brexit when a sizeable portion of the 2019 coalition do not think it has been a positive thing for the country is hardly likely to bolster support. Brexit is not the political gift it once was.



In fact, our polling reveals that voters who think that a) the economy is weaker post-Brexit, b) that the NHS has got worse after leaving the EU, and c) that the cost-of-living crisis has been worse than it would have been within the EU are all more likely to say they will vote for Labour than Conservatives at the next election.

So, maybe Brexit is not the issue to draw attention to. But it is true that there are other specific policies which motivate 2019 Conservatives, which could be used instead. For example, our polling shows that crime and immigration are two areas of particular concern. The latter, on the face of it, seems an obvious issue for the Conservatives to push to mobilise this group; it was a key theme of the referendum, and more stringent migration controls are seen by 45% as a key advantage of Brexit.

More widely, it’s another issue to beat Labour with; a third of this group think Labour wants to increase immigration to the UK. Exploiting this issue could be a way to pull back the support of those 2019 Conservatives who, post-Brexit, have shifted back to Labour.

Yet, again, the Conservatives don’t necessarily perform well on this issue. 62% of 2019 Conservative voters think illegal immigration – a particular bugbear for Tory voters – has increased over the last seven years. This, alongside continuous blunders on this issue like the failure of the Rwanda scheme, or the evacuation of the Bibby Stockholm, means that for many voters, the Conservatives don’t seem to have ‘taken back control’ of the UK’s borders.

Indeed, our polling shows that this issue is not a vote winner for the Conservatives: 63% of those who think immigration is a ‘fairly’ or ‘very’ important issue are leaning towards voting Labour at the next election.

And unfortunately for the Conservatives, this is a pattern that is being repeated on other issues. Our data shows that, on issues voters find ‘very’ important, there is a preference towards a Labour government over a Conservative one. This leaves very few issues for the Conservatives to ‘snatch back’ and monopolise to reinvigorate their 2019 coalition.



There’s a hard slog ahead for the Conservatives. The electoral coalition that led to their victory at the last election may work to their detriment in 2024. At the next election, it seems unlikely that the 2019 coalition will be sharing the same policy priorities, nor voting for the same party.

By Sophie Stowers, researcher, UK in a Changing Europe.

You can download the August 2023 Brexit tracker data tables in full here.

Women’s chess master claims she was raped at tournament

Sabrina Chevannes said discrimination has taken place at every chess tournament she has ever attended

Maya Oppenheim

Women’s Correspondent

2 days ago

Sabrina Chevannes, a women’s international chess master, says sexual harassment, sexual assault or discrimination against women has taken place at every chess tournament she has ever attended

(Sabrina Chevannes)

A prominent women’s chess player has accused a fellow player of rape and sexual harassment as she warned a “toxic culture“ of misogyny and sexually predatory behaviour plagues the chess community.

Sabrina Chevannes, a women’s international chess master, said she was raped at a chess tournament by another contestant.

The 36-year-old, who quit professional chess in January 2017, told The Independent the incident happened when she was blackout drunk as a teenager

She added: “I woke up in the linen room of the hotel on a table. I was in so much pain. I didn’t quite understand what had happened.

“While playing chess I was in so much pain I could barely sit down. Him and his friends were high-fiving about it.”

Ms Chevannes, who won 10 British chess titles, said sexual harassment, sexual assault or discrimination against women has taken place at every chess tournament she has ever attended.

She has endured racism from fellow chess players, with people often assuming she had cheated when she did well in tournaments, she added.

She also told of an incident at a chess tournament when a man who was a chess master groped her.

“I was 11 years old,” she recalled. “I wanted to have a picture with him because he was famous in this world. He posed for the picture but did this thing where he put his hand down my back touching my butt. Then he turned around and winked at me.”

Have you been affected by this story? Email maya.oppenheim@independent.co.uk

She encountered him again at another chess event when she was a teenager where he told her he had seen her on the front of a chess magazine, she added.

“He said, ‘You are developing so well’. I said, ‘I was at my best rating’, and he said, ‘No, I don’t mean developing like that’,” Ms Chevannes recalled.

“He said he may need another copy of the magazine as he said he had worn his down with all the night-time reading. He looked at me in a creepy, lecherous manner. When he met me when I was 18, he said ‘now you are legal in all countries’.”

Chevannes said police are now looking into her allegations

(Sabrina Chevannes)

The former player said she would actively avoid tournaments where he was playing. She noted he sexually propositioned her a few years ago – asking her to go back to his hotel room.

Ms Chevannes said: “He used very racist, misogynistic language to my face.”

She told of another incident where a different chess player offered to let her sleep in his hotel room as she was tired from her flight but couldn’t check into her room until mid-afternoon.

“He wasn’t in the room when I was sleeping but I woke up to find one hand down my pants and one hand in my bra,” she added. “He did the same thing again when I was in the same house as him and lots of others in the chess community.”

Ms Chevannes, who now coaches chess, said she did not report any of the incidents to the police at the time as others warned her she would not be believed.

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But she added that social media posts she recently shared about her alleged experiences had been seen by the police who are now looking into her claims.

Other female chess players have come forward in recent weeks to make allegations of sexual assault, violence and harassment from male players.

Earlier in the month, 14 of France’s top female players wrote an open letter, “denouncing the sexist or sexual violence they have suffered” in the chess community, with over 100 women in chess signing the letter in the space of only five days.

Ms Chevannes described the chess community as an “insular world” with a rigid hierarchy where people are judged by their chess abilities and women are perpetually belittled.

“Women are seen as inferior, they genuinely believe men are superior to women in every way – including intellectually,” she added. “If you beat someone, it’s described as you raped them.”

 

UK 

MPs call for magic mushrooms and psychedelic drugs to be downgraded

Cross-party committee also backs wider use of cannabis for medicinal use and drug ‘consumption rooms’

Adam Forrest

2 days ago

Psilocybin mushrooms, aka magic mushrooms

(Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Magic mushrooms and other psychedelic drugs should be reclassified as “a matter of urgency” to support clinical research into medical and therapeutic treatment, a group of influential MPs have said.

A report by the home affairs committee said there was a “growing body of evidence” that suggests psychedelics – and psilocybin in particular – may have therapeutic benefits, including treating depression and PTSD.

The cross-party group recommended that Rishi Sunak’s government downgrades the class A psychedelic drugs from Schedule 1 to schedule 2 so academics can test the “therapeutic value” more easily.

The powerful committee backed greater provision of cannabis-based products for medicinal use – though it stopped short of saying cannabis should be legalised or regulated for non-medical use.

The cross-party group of MPs also concluded recommended the use of safe spaces across the UK for users to take heroin and other substances in “consumption rooms” under medical supervision – along with greater testing at festivals.

The Scottish government has been pressing for a so-called safe consumption facility to be set up, with efforts on this having so far been blocked by Westminster.

But the home affairs committee recommended that a pilot in Glasgow is supported by Westminster and jointly funded by both governments.

If Rishi Sunak’s government remains unwilling to support the pilot, the power to establish it should be devolved to the Scottish government, the committee said.

More widely, the MPs recommended pilots of such facilities – where heroin users and other addicts can take substances under medical supervision with the aim that the environment will help prevent overdoses – in parts of the UK where local government deem there is a need.

Drug deaths in Scotland have been a consistent scandal in recent years

(PA Archive)

Figures published last week revealed Scotland’s largest ever fall in drug deaths, with data showing a total of 1,051 deaths due to drug misuse in 2022 – a drop of 279 on the previous year.

But while the number of deaths linked to drugs misuse is now at the lowest it has been since 2017, the official report made clear that the rate of deaths is still “much higher” than it was when recording the data began in 1996.

MPs said the pilot on the bold move “must be evaluated in order to establish a reliable evidence base on the utility of a safe consumption facility in the UK”.

Responding to the recommendation on consumption rooms, the Sunak government insisted “there is no safe way to take illegal drugs” and they have “no plans to consider” the idea.

Additionally, the MPs said on-site drug checking services at temporary events like music festivals and within the night-time economy should be rolled out, recommending that the Home Office “establish a dedicated licensing scheme for drug checking at such events before the start of the summer 2024 festival season”.

Labour MP Diana Johnson leads home affairs committee

(PA)

The report stated that existing classifications of controlled substances should be reviewed by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) to ensure they accurately reflect the risk of harm, with further reviews every 10 years.

While welcoming the 10-year drug strategy’s commitment to tackling county lines, the committee said the government can “go further to prevent children and young people from becoming exploited”.

Committee chairwoman, Dame Diana Johnson said: “The criminal justice system will need to continue to do all it can to break up the criminal gangs that drive the trade in illicit drugs. However, it must also recognise that many children and young people involved need to be supported to escape not punished for their involvement.”

She added: “Fundamentally, we need to have the right interventions in place to help people break free from the terrible cycles of addiction and criminality that drug addiction can cause. Simply attempting to remove drugs from people’s lives hasn’t worked.”

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A Home Office spokesperson said: “There is no safe way to take illegal drugs, which devastate lives, ruin families and damage communities, and we have no plans to consider this.”

The Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC) said many commissioners |will not, however, feel that they can support approaches that they see as facilitating illegal drug use, such as drug consumption rooms and pill testing, and they therefore support the current legal position”.