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Mr. Richard Spring (Bury St. Edmunds): Drug abuse is a problem right across the world; in third-world societies and in industrialised societies. It crosses every national boundary, every political system and every socio- economic group. That is the essence of the problem and to bring in such aspects as those to which the right hon. Gentleman refers, important though they may be, and to regard them as central to the whole area of drug abuse, is to misread the situation. The White Paper is of course attempting to address the situation as it is.
Mr. Beith: The hon. Gentleman is critical of his Government. I was quoting a statement of Government policy on drugs in Scotland, that drug misuse tends to flourish in conditions of deprivation. I agree that it flourishes under many other conditions, but one must look for some explanation of the prevalence of Friday and Saturday night drug abuse in the context of raves and other events in some of our cities, particularly in Scotland and northern England--where the problems are similar--and of the prevalence of other forms of drug abuse in areas of massive social deprivation and general hopelessness.
How much drug abuse, like alcohol abuse, is inevitable? We have never in centuries cured the still serious problem of alcohol abuse, which is involved in a
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large proportion of violent crime in this country and the rest of Europe. Different strategies have failed to prevent it. What is most likely to discourage young people from taking drugs? What is likely to lead addicts and regular users to shake off their dependency on or frequent use of drugs? What role can the law play? It clearly fails to discourage large numbers of young people from taking drugs. There could not be so many possession offences recorded, let alone remain unrecorded, if large numbers of people were not influenced by the state of the law. If their attitudes are to change, they must be influenced in some other way.Why do we view alcohol so differently? Why is not it part of this debate? Sometimes I wonder whether we still have an alcohol policy. It was once part of that policy, if not a very successful part, to control supply strictly by limiting retail outlets and licensing hours, but that has gone. The price issue is challenged by what is happening in Europe. A report published this week rightly argues that we should not be looking for a levelling down of alcohol taxation but for ways of ensuring that prices will not drop in countries that have high alcohol taxation, because there is ample evidence that lower prices would lead to increased alcohol use and abuse. There is a policy in relation to drink driving, and there was a recent announcement of possible further restraint on permitted alcohol levels in drivers. That is welcome, but is only one element of what should be broader policy.
Mr. Tony Banks: The right hon. Gentleman's comments about alcohol abuse are undoubtedly true but no one in his right mind would suggest criminalising the use of alcohol. We could not ban alcohol or make its consumption illegal. Why should cannabis, which does less damage to health than alcohol-- [Hon. Members:-- "Rubbish."]--be selected as an illegal substance?
Mr. Beith: The United States tried to make alcohol illegal and called it prohibition. I am sorry to say that it did not work. It was not a successful method of dealing with the problem. One questions what would have happened if alcohol had been in the same position as cannabis when it was made the subject of legal restraint in this country. A different view might have been taken if alcohol had not been widely known or used before. Perhaps total prohibition would have been tried. Legal prohibition alone is not working in respect of cannabis, so we must find another way of persuading young people in particular that they should not embark upon its use and that it poses associated direct and indirect health risks.
I said before that a change in the law on cannabis would send a signal that might have a wide and more dangerous impact, even if such a change had no direct impact. People who are involved in one form or another of drug abuse ask, "Why is my form of drug abuse regarded as some kind of deviancy whereas other people can abuse alcohol or nicotine freely, without any prospect of legal penalty?" There is no sign that the White Paper process involved listening to or understanding drug abuses--particularly among young people--who do not understand why their action is treated as a form of deviancy and as being on a different level from widespread abuse of socially acceptable drugs.
One must understand the nature of the problem to find the solution. It is not sufficient simply to preach. Drug abuse of all kinds does immense harm, but we cannot tackle that harm unless we understand what causes the
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problem and work out realistically how and to what extent we can bring about change. A royal commission would be of considerable help in examining the fundamental issues.I welcome the interdepartmental approach, the commitment shown and some of the things that can emerge. I have anxieties about key areas where resources may not be available--most notably education but also prisons and rehabilitation. I am glad that the Leader of the House tried to rescue the debate from the level of merely arguing whether or not cannabis should be legalised and to raise it to a serious and objective argument. There are much more fundamental issues that the White Paper has not begun to examine, but we cannot afford to delay dealing with matters such as drug trafficking or persuading young people to change their views towards drugs while we await the answers.
11.25 am
Dr. Charles Goodson-Wickes (Wimbledon): Seldom in my time in the House have I witnessed such a thoroughly well-co-ordinated and speedy interdepartmental exercise as represented by the White Paper. Judging by the initial welcome given to my right hon. Friend the Lord President when he presented "Tackling Drugs Together" last month, that togetherness seems rightly to transcend party divisions. I say that in the context of the speech of the right hon. Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed (Mr. Beith).
The misuse of drugs is one of the most alarming issues of the day. Although hon. Members will have different priorities and viewpoints, the general aim is the same. The syndrome is all too recognisable, but the cure remains elusive. It is no exaggeration that the combination of corruption, crime and personal tragedy corrodes many of our basic values and constitutes a menace to society. Whether we approach the matter as politicians or as parents, the problems are formidable.
I claim no special expertise, save as a practising physician for a quarter of a century. Other people have studied the subject in much greater depth. Although mind-altering drugs have been used from the earliest of times, the variety of drugs available in the past 25 years--especially of synthetic drugs--and the sophistication of delivery in an increasingly prosperous world mean that the threat to communities and ultimately to civilisation has never been greater. In the lectures on pharmacology that I attended, the properties of various drugs were discussed in academic terms, perhaps laced with a few historical allusions. There was precious little mention of the socially debilitating effects of those drugs. The inference was that a few dropouts were addicted to certain drugs, but there was no suggestion of a possible burgeoning in their volume and availability, which poses a serious worldwide threat. I trust that the ethos of such lectures has changed.
There is a sharp contrast between those sad addicts of a few years ago and the superficially glamorous image of the use of so-called recreational drugs by the young today. I take the opportunity to endorse the comments of both Front-Bench spokesmen in rejecting the wholly misguided legalisation lobby that has from time to time gained superficial credibility. The Government have every right to feel pride in taking the initiative in tackling a problem to which there are no easy answers.
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I shall concentrate on the slightly hackneyed medical principle that prevention is better than cure. Sadly, it is unrealistic to suppose that drug use can be eliminated. In that context, I welcome the extra funds from the Department of Health for the treatment of addicts. Progress can be made in tackling supply and demand. I had the opportunity to see at first hand measures to combat the drug trade emanating from South America. No one denies that the problem of drug trafficking, primarily of cocaine, is serious--whether the countries concerned contain primarily growers, processors or traders.The House should never accept that the issue is too large to grapple with and is thus insuperable. For instance, in Colombia, I have seen international efforts involving American and British expertise, ranging from the pooling of intelligence to joint military and police action and the tracking of drug routes on a worldwide basis. Our drug liaison officers in six countries in South America, with links to colleagues in the Caribbean and the United States, do splendid work and their deployment is flexible enough to respond to the new situations that constantly arise as the sophistication of trafficking increases and new markets and even new crops develop. There is a sinister trend away from violent gangs in that part of the world to cosmopolitan and professional sales and marketing corporations, fronted by apparently respectable business men with the usual gamut of professional advice in the shape of lawyers and accountants, who are now running much more insidious operations. A manifestation of the apparent saturation of the cocaine market in the United States is the targeting of people with high disposable incomes elsewhere in the world, such as in Europe and Australasia, via countries as diverse as Nigeria and the Netherlands. If cocaine were the end product, the problem might be more easily containable, but the ease of conversion into crack, which is attractive to a different type of user and is closely related to inner-city crime in the United States and in more deprived parts of this country, is a formidable and frightening new aspect.
It is not only the use of cocaine that is on the increase, which is shown by consumption figures and seizure statistics, but that of heroin, whether from the golden triangle of Thailand, Burma and Malaysia, which primarily look to markets in north America, or from the golden crescent in Pakistan, Africa, Afghanistan and Iran, which is primarily directed to European markets.
While it is an inexact science to correlate the number of seizures with volumes and to detect trends, it is increasingly worrying that Customs and Excise inform me that United Kingdom seizures of 500 kg of heroin in the first quarter of 1995 are approaching the 640 kg seized throughout 1994. Such a pattern of increasing consumption is also seen with cannabis and synthetic drugs. The consignments are getting larger and another worrying new trend is the increasing use of former Soviet bloc countries, such as Poland and Czechoslovakia, as entry points into the European Community. That trend has become even more marked since the dangerous break-up of the former Yugoslavia, which has interrupted the other route through the Balkan states.
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Whether cocaine comes in bitumen drums, pickled peaches or even within fresh flower consignments, or heroin is transported overland in continental lorries before being broken down into smaller consignments in countries such as the Netherlands, the key question must be addressed: is it really appropriate that the single market has made life so much easier for drug traffickers? A recent United Kingdom seizure crossed the so-called frontiers of no fewer than seven European Community countries. Let us consider the control of other criminal activities and the increasing problems of economic migration--is it right that we should be required to lower our border controls? I heard what my right hon. Friend the Leader of the House said and I welcome his endorsement of my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister's assurance in the matter, but many Conservative Members will certainly be keeping an ever more vigilant watch. I am doubtful about the risk of undermining our increasingly sophisticated Customs and Excise and police operations, which are arguably the market leaders, on the altar of the aim of some spurious European unity, but I suspect that that is an issue for another day, Madam Speaker. An expert has told me of the effect of what he described as a Pizza Express service developing, whereby the question, "Are you sorted?" can bring not only heroin and cocaine but amphetamines, ecstasy and cannabis to the door on virtually instant demand in certain parts of this country within 15 minutes. At present, that is primarily a problem in London and southern England, but--Mr. George Howarth indicated dissent .
Dr. Goodson-Wickes: I see that the Opposition Front-Bench spokesman acknowledges that alarming pockets of use and trends are developing elsewhere.
As my hon. Friend the Member for Lewes (Mr. Rathbone), who chairs the excellent all-party committee on drug misuse, said, everyone is at risk. The best customer is often the young person living at home with a job and, therefore, a fairly reasonable disposable income. He or she is a prime target for the pushers.
I am not criticising our admirable enforcement agencies, whose powers and efficiency will, I hope, be enhanced by the current review of the structure and operation of our security services, including the Ministry of Defence, and increased funding of the national criminal intelligence service. The Drug Trafficking Act 1994 is working well, but increased worldwide intelligence and intervention can only stem the flow and can never stop it.
In conclusion, ultimately the Government's policy of combining education, awareness and guidance is the right one. The drugs struggle is apolitical and this enlightened initiative will be of immense benefit in the protection of future generations.
11.37 am
Ms Janet Anderson (Rossendale and Darwen): There can be no hon. Member in the House today who is not concerned about the problems associated with drug misuse. In some parts of the country, they would appear to have reached epidemic proportions. Every parent is worried about the impact of drug misuse on individuals and families and, indeed, on the communities in which they live.
Opposition Members have taken a positive approach to the White Paper and are pleased that many of our arguments have been accepted. There is a need for a
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national strategy and for co-ordinated action. There is also an overwhelming need to increase community safety from drug-related crime. Recent estimates claim that a staggering 80 per cent. of crime may now be drug related. That equates with police estimates in my constituency.It has been alleged to me that there is virtually no school playground in my constituency in which drugs of one sort or another are not available. Parents tell me that they will not allow their children to use the local playground because that is where drugs are peddled. There is one park in the Darwen part of my constituency which the local police claim is used regularly as a haunt for young people who are buying and selling drugs. It was even suggested to me the other day that there is an off-licence in the same area that is known locally to supply drugs to schoolchildren during their dinner hour. Everyone seems to know that that goes on.
In his introduction to the White Paper, the Prime Minister said: "Containing the drugs problem is a long-term process. But this is not just a job for Government. Effective partnership to protect individuals and communities is the foundation. It is now time to turn this resolve and sense of common purpose into action."
He is quite right. Collective and community action, working in partnership with local communities, must be the answer, because those local communities are at the front line of the problem. Research shows that nearly 50 per cent. of our 15 and 16-year-olds have been offered drugs, and at least two thirds of all thefts are drug related. That is a problem of record proportions.
The Methodist Church has suggested that one answer to that problem may be to give drug addicts greater access to their chosen drugs under the supervision of general practitioners. It has proposed that long-term drug users would be healthier and less likely to fall into criminality if they were able to have realistic doses of their preferred drugs, taken in the way that they would like. Other people, as has already been mentioned by hon. Members today, suggest that legalisation or decriminalisation--of cannabis especially--may be of assistance.
The right hon. Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed (Mr. Beith) attempted to explain away what the Liberal Democrats did at their conference, but let us place it on the record. I have in my hand a copy of the resolution that was passed by that conference in 1994. It was quoted verbatim in the House on 15 February 1995 by the hon. Member for Southwark and Bermondsey (Mr. Hughes). The resolution says clearly: "Conference calls for:
The establishment of a Royal Commission to investigate and consider strategies for combating drug misuse, including:--
1. Greater resources to be given to HM Customs & Excise . . . 2. The police to be given more resources . . .
3. All schools to be obliged to offer advice and guidance to all pupils . . .
4. Immediate action to set up rehabilitation centres throughout the country;
5. Much stiffer penalties for all convicted drug dealers; 6. The decriminalisation of the use and possession of cannabis in order that . . . Customs & Excise are able to target their resources".--[ Official Report , 15 February 1995; Vol. 254, c. 922.] That was the resolution that was passed at the Liberal Democrat conference.
I invite the right hon. Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed to tell us what he believes the opinions of the Liberal Democrat candidate in Littleborough and Saddleworth are
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about that issue. I understand, for example, that he is on record as favouring the legalisation of cannabis. [Hon. Members:-- "Ah".] Obviously the right hon. Gentleman wants to do some homework before he responds to that question. That approach may stem from the best of intentions, but it is misguided because it confuses two separate aspects of the problem.Some people believe that soft drugs present no health problems, and that dealing with that aspect of the problem takes up too much police time and resources, so the answer must be to legalise or at least to decriminalise the use of soft drugs. I used to be tempted towards that approach. However, I recently had the opportunity, with the hon. Member for Ryedale (Mr. Greenway) and other members of the Home Affairs Select Committee, to visit Holland, where the police, as we know, have decided to turn a blind eye to soft drug indulgence. Indeed, in Amsterdam there are at least 100 "coffee shops" where young people--and those who use those coffee shops are overwhelmingly young people--are able to indulge their habit in relative freedom. The problem with that approach is that it assumes that no serious health problems arise from the use of soft drugs and makes no attempt to tackle the problem of supply. One cannot accept that without recognising that one is ensuring a guaranteed market for soft drugs, to be exploited by organised crime. By their policy, the Amsterdam police are guaranteeing a market for people such as the Italian mafia and the organised crime groups rapidly growing in the Soviet Union--a guaranteed market for soft drugs. The profits from that market enable those people to establish funding for other, even more reprehensible activities.
We must not underestimate the criminal implications of those activities. When the Government introduced their White Paper to the House, my hon. Friend the Member for Dewsbury (Mrs. Taylor) said: "The effects of drug- related crime and a drug culture are undermining the potential of our young people, pervading every community and devastating some."--[ Official Report , 10 May 1995; Vol. 259, c. 749.]
That is why the Labour party opposes the legalisation of cannabis. Debate about the legalisation of cannabis can only serve as a distraction from the real issues-- [Hon. Members:-- "Hear, hear."] We must do more to alert young people to the dangers. The funding made available to schools should certainly be sustained. The figure of £240 a school is not very much, but it is better than nothing, and I hope that the Government will not seek to cut that.
Most important, action to tackle that problem, and the drug-related crime problem associated with it, must be taken at local level by means of a partnership approach among all the local agencies, to develop and implement policies to reduce drug misuse.
We all welcome the debate today. I have been proud to take part in a debate in which there has been such consensus on both sides of the House about the need for a general strategy to tackle this important issue.
Finally, if there is one reason above all why we must do something about this problem, it is because it especially affects our young people. I have three teenage children. Touch wood, none of them has yet been attracted by that type of substance abuse. I hope that they never will be, and I look forward to our working together to tackle the problem and to ensure that our young children are protected.
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11.45 amMr. Patrick Thompson (Norwich, North): I join colleagues in thanking the Lord President for finding time for this important debate. I place on the record, for those who are involved with the procedures of this place, that as it is a popular debate in which many people wish to speak, I think the point of order that I raised regarding private notice questions is relevant.
Earlier this week, we held a debate which lasted until 10 o'clock in which there were very few speakers indeed. I cannot recall what it was about, but I see that the Lord President recalls the one that I mean. Today we have a debate in which many people wish to speak, perhaps at some length. I make no criticism of the private notice question--there is nothing wrong with that--but we must find ways of introducing more flexibility into our procedures so that we do not have so much time wasting, with people preparing speeches and then in one way or another being frankly messed about by the procedures. I hope that the Lord President and everyone else involved with our procedures will give a little thought to the difficulties which can arise as a result of those sudden changes.
I was interested to hear the speech of the hon. Member for Rossendale and Darwen (Ms Anderson), which confirmed the positive and consensual approach expressed by the hon. Member for Knowsley, North (Mr. Howarth). Those and other Opposition Members are right to say that we must tackle the problem as a national one, and as far as possible adopt a cross-party approach to it. I also welcome to some extent the remarks of the right hon. Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed (Mr. Beith), who at least said that he personally was going along with that consensus. However, he has a problem with his party and it was fascinating to hear the little dialogue between new Labour and old Liberal on that. The right hon. Gentleman seems to have some difficulty there, although I suspect that he agrees with the general consensus that is emerging, even on the subject of legalisation of cannabis.
Mr. Beith: Before the hon. Gentleman gets too excited, he should remember that my Conservative predecessor as Member of Parliament for Berwick-upon-Tweed was convicted and fined for possession of cannabis.
Mr. Thompson: The debate about the legalisation of cannabis cuts across party lines, as the hon. Member for Knowsley, North pointed out. However, I shall return to that point in a moment.
I fully support the Government's strategy for the next three years as outlined in the White Paper, "Tackling Drugs Together," and as described by the Lord President. Therefore, I shall not go over that ground again in my speech. I think that it is a good initiative which the Government are following up vigorously.
This morning I shall refer to two main issues, the first of which is local. I said earlier, by way of intervention, that Norfolk has taken a lead in combating drug abuse. I congratulate those authorities in Norfolk which have done excellent work in that area. I am delighted to see that my hon. Friend the Minister from the Department of Education has arrived at an opportune moment as I wish to refer to the work that the Government are doing and can do in schools to address the serious drug problem.
I was pleased that the hon. Member for Rossendale and Darwen referred to the way in which drugs affect young people. There is no worse crime than that perpetrated by
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those who profiteer in substances which do so much harm to our young people. That is one of the reasons why so many hon. Members wish to take part in this important debate.I put on record a fact which must be obvious from my remarks: I am firmly opposed to any campaign to legalise cannabis or any other drug of that nature. The ongoing debate between the libertarian and the more authoritarian approaches cuts across the party divide. Those who know me will recognise that I come down firmly on the side of the authoritarians, probably because I am an ex-schoolmaster. I cannot help it: I tend to side with those who want to control and intervene--although, I hasten to add, not in the way that the Opposition propose. I am an authoritarian, not a libertarian. I recently read John Stuart Mill, which I do not do as regularly as I should--my hon. Friends will be delighted to hear that I do not intend to quote him--and decided that I do not support the sentiments that people like him have expressed. I know that some people will understand what I mean. I totally reject the libertarian arguments with regard to drugs and I will not develop them further. In this country we are confronted by the problem of how to address the questions of authority and discipline--whether it be internal discipline or self-discipline. We face a crisis in this country as far as authority and discipline are concerned; it is not a party matter.
One day politicians must address the issue of how our society and culture deals with drugs. Some hon. Members have referred to that point this morning. I do not intend to initiate a debate about the Church of England, but even it faces a crisis in trying to decide whether it has authority or whether it is merely responding to general public pressure. I know which side I am on in that debate, but I shall develop that point on other and better occasions. I shall skip the part of my speech about John Stuart Mill --much to everyone's relief--and turn to the question of drug abuse among young people. I raised that issue on an Adjournment debate as long ago as 1989. I recommend that my colleagues never read Adjournment speeches that they made a long time ago, as I was horrified by what I had said and the way in which I had said it. However, I made several good points and I referred to the need to protect our young people from the growing drugs threat. We have heard today that the threat is still growing.
The then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Department of Education, my hon. Friend the Member for Coventry, South-West (Mr. Butcher) --who has a constituency that is almost identical to mine and with whom I often compare constituency issues--made an excellent reply to my Adjournment speech. He proposed a very good 10-point plan for schools which aimed to reduce demand for drugs. That has been followed by a succession of very good Department of Education initiatives--including the most recent strategy document that I shall refer to in a moment if there is time--which have culminated in today's debate.
Norfolk has taken a lead in combating drug abuse--this is not just a Member of Parliament giving a puff for his own constituency. Norfolk adopted the inter-agency approach as early as 1990. I pay tribute to the east Norfolk and north-west Anglia health commissions, the police, the local education authorities, the probation service and all of the voluntary organisations that have been involved with that measure. The White Paper was published only last month, but the Norfolk drug action team--the teams
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are referred to in the White Paper--has been established already. It will have responsibility for the entire county and it plans to meet on 17 July to discuss a strategic co-ordinated approach to education, prevention, treatment, law enforcement and rehabilitation issues. The Government are right to emphasise the co-ordinated inter-agency approach, which I cannot support too strongly.Norfolk's response has been excellent, and the authorities in the area have been the pathfinders on the issue. In particular, the Norfolk education service has produced guidelines for schools. There is not time for me to give details of them, but I can certainly recommend them. I hope that my hon. Friend can confirm that the guidelines have been put forward as examples of good practice to be followed by schools up and down the land. I hope that Norfolk's example can be followed nationally.
It is important to pay tribute also to the police in Norfolk. I would particularly like to commend the work of the crime prevention panel, which has kindly provided me with some information that is appropriate to the debate. My hon. Friend the Member for Wimbledon (Dr. Goodson-Wickes) talked about the national trend in drug seizures. Norfolk's figures are 811 in 1992, 1,028 in 1993 and 1,551 in 1994, giving increases in successive years of 27 per cent., and then 50 per cent. That surely confirms what my hon. Friend said. Dr. Goodson-Wickes indicated assent .
Mr. Thompson: I see the my hon. Friend agrees. That there is an increasing trend is confirmed by those figures. There was a recent seizure of cannabis in Norfolk with a street value of some £200,000. Fortunately, the offenders concerned were arrested in that case. That is good news, but it is all part of the increasing trend about which we are so concerned. The police are doing an excellent job as far as that is concerned.
The right hon. Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed referred to voluntary organisations, and gave the example of rotary clubs. One good example to which I should like to refer in passing is the Norwich rotary club's DrugBuster `95 initiative, which was given publicity this week in the local press. The idea of the initiative is to have a drug awareness campaign aimed at year seven in our schools--that is 11 to 12-year-olds.
Earlier speakers, including my hon. Friend the Member for Croydon, South (Mr. Ottaway), referred to the distressingly low age at which drug abuse first appears. That has been confirmed by recent surveys. The rotary club is addressing the 11 to 12-year-old group in particular and, in doing so, have taken advice from the police, teachers and the Matthew project and other voluntary organisations in Norwich. The rotary club has said it was astonished to find the extent of drug abuse in the area, and they felt that it should support initiatives within schools--including short plays and designing tee-shirts--to help. While I do not wish to go into detail, it is a worthwhile initiative and many others are taking place as well.
Finally, I wish to refer to a survey called "Cracking Drugs in Schools" produced by the Professional Association of Teachers. At this point, I must declare an interest as a consultant or adviser to that association. My hon. Friend the Member for Lewes (Mr. Rathbone) referred to that survey in his excellent speech as well. It
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is relevant to the debate, and particularly to those concerned about what is happening among young people in schools.There were some 483 responses to the survey, which was conducted over a wide geographical area in primary and secondary schools, and in further education establishments. I wish to highlight some of the points which came out of the survey, as they relate to remarks made earlier in the debate. First, the feeling among teachers is that the general culture of this country--including the conduct of the media--is part of the problem.
The survey also mentioned role models for our young people. I could get carried away on this subject--but I will not, because everyone else wants to speak. Society is offering our young people the wrong sort of role models: so much is clear from the survey.
Another point to emerge from the survey is the idea that we should not forget about alcohol and tobacco while we concentrate on drugs in schools. They, too, constitute a serious problem. So I go along with those who say that we should not push alcohol and tobacco to one side as being of no importance just because we are debating other drugs. The survey confirmed what my hon. Friend the Member for Croydon, South said--that drug misuse in primary schools is significant and growing. It also showed that teachers want more and better training. I know that there is cross-party agreement on that point. Tremendous support for the way police are helping schools was clear from the survey, but there was some concern that there might be a confusion between their role as advisers and their role in enforcing the law when serious offences are committed. There may be a need for clarification in that area. I think that the Minister of State is aware of the wish for clarification of the legal position of teachers who try to deal with incidents of drug misuse in schools, and I know that the Department is responding to that wish.
Finally, the survey pointed out that there is no real distinction, in this context, between the inner cities and rural areas. This is a national problem. The survey concluded that all schools should have a drugs education policy and a drugs incidents policy. At the moment, only 40 per cent. even of secondary schools and further education colleges have such policies. The teachers surveyed also felt that the law governing the sale of alcohol to minors should be more strictly enforced. More controversially, they suggest a ban on cigarette advertising within range of schools. All these points need to be thought about and debated.
I promised to be brief, so I will conclude by saying that we must continue the debate between the disciplinarians or authoritarians and the libertarians. There may be other opportunities to develop that debate, so that we can move on to a more creative, more fulfilled and happier society, in which there are fewer family break-ups, with all their attendant problems. I agree with those who have talked about training for 14 to 16- year-olds--the hon. Member for Knowsley, North made some good points about them.
We are all involved--not just parliamentarians but leaders of society and the media. I hope that this debate will issue in a national discussion of this important subject, because we are holding the debate for the sake of our young people.
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12.2 pmMs Diane Abbott (Hackney, North and Stoke Newington): I represent an inner-city constituency in London with one of the most serious drug problems in the country. Anyone who is as close to the crisis caused by drugs as my constituents and I are must question whether the Government are yet taking the problem seriously enough. It is hard to disagree with the detail of much of the White Paper, but in my view it is a well-meaning but essentially bureaucratic response to a problem with complex economic and social roots which the document does not begin to touch.
It has been rightly said that drugs are a nationwide problem, but they are especially a problem for the inner city. The British crime survey showed that, whereas in the inner cities 16 per cent. of 14 to 15-year-olds had experimented with drugs, in rural areas only 7 per cent. had done so. I shall talk briefly about my experience of dealing with and working with the consequences of drug abuse in an area such as Stoke Newington. It is easy to discuss the issue in the abstract, but I want to talk about what the drug epidemic in our inner city means in terms of the cost in human lives. Week after week in my surgery, I see middle-aged women who may have worked all their lives and have seen their sons destroyed by the drugs trade. Many young men and women get involved with drugs because drugs are fashionable, glamorous and seen as a high road to money. The reality for 99 per cent. of them is that their lives are ruined. If they are fortunate, they keep out of prison or mental hospital but, increasingly, the prisons and mental homes around London are full of the victims of the drug epidemic in the inner city.
There is also the environmental cost to the inner city. It cannot be acceptable that law-abiding people who live on council estates have to walk past drug peddlers to go to the shops or post office. On the same landing as those people live on, there may be a council flat entirely given over to drug retailing. In areas such as the east end of London, it does not matter whether one knows anyone taking or dealing in drugs; on many of our estates, it is hard to escape the environmental consequences of the drug trade, whether they be syringes in the sand pit at Clissold park in Stoke Newington or drug dealers on the street corner. That is the reality that the House must address.
One of the biggest costs that my constituents pay because of the drug trade is the cost of crime. To feed a hard drug habit nowadays can cost up to £1,000 a week. Where do people get the money? They get it from crime. Surveys show that over a third of crack users make the money to buy drugs through dealing. There is a tendency in the House to distinguish between dealers and users, but all too often they are the same people. A third of crack users get the money through dealing, a quarter through theft and one in seven through prostitution. Many of the petty burglaries, mindless assaults and much of the street crime in many parts of the inner city are caused by people trying to feed a drug habit.
Even worse than the cost in human lives or of having to push a baby in a buggy past drug dealers on Stoke Newington High street and worse than the crime is the rising incidence of violence and the increasing number of people armed with guns who are connected with drug distribution in London. In 1993, there were 10 murders and 21 attempted murders associated with the crack
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cocaine trade alone. Those figures are spiralling. The problem is that many of the young men--it is mainly young men--who go armed in the pursuance of drug distribution also use guns for all sorts of relatively petty domestic altercations. That frightens me because I live in the community. I am not talking about people from a report or what I have read about, but about my friends' and relatives' children. The rising number of young men involved with drugs in inner London and other inner cities who are armed with guns is a direct consequence of the drug epidemic in our big cities.I cannot argue with much of the detail of the White Paper, but it does not begin to constitute an effective response to the drugs crisis that is engulfing some of our communities. Many hon. Members want to speak, so I will not expand my remarks.
Any effective response must seriously consider why people take drugs in the first place. The reasons are complex. I believe that some people have an addictive personality. Style, fashion, and street credibility are involved. Conservative Members have tried to challenge this, but there is no question that drug abuse is often connected with conditions of poverty and despair. Conservative Members do not like this, but we have to face the fact that, sadly, many young men in our inner cities regard dealing and trading in drugs as a viable economic route out of poverty. I do not condone that, but it is a reality. To talk about a little money here for education, about a few leaflets there and about meetings with chief executives and directors of social services does not begin to address the reality of young men who see drug dealing as their only route to acquiring the material trappings to which they believe that they are entitled. Until we have a strategy against drugs which takes that point on board and deals with it, we are far from having an effective strategy.
There is little point in dealing with the drug epidemic in narrow terms of education and meetings of bureaucrats without lifting our sights overseas to where the drugs are produced. The major drug production areas are some of the poorest countries in the world. Some of the most heavily indebted third-world countries are also the countries most heavily involved in drug production. It is in countries where the prices of traditional agricultural products such as sugar, bananas and coffee have collapsed that the rural agriculturists turn to drug production. It is no use Ministers telling me that they are serious about the war on drugs when their colleagues across Whitehall are pursuing trade, economic and aid policies that encourage thousands of small agriculturists to turn to drugs production.
What are we to say to small farmers in the rural Caribbean or in South America? They see that the price of coffee has collapsed and that there is no market for their bananas and sugar. They see that their only means of feeding and clothing their children and of making a life is through drug production. If this country is serious about the war on drugs, we have to tie in what we do about trade and third-world poverty with what we do here about drugs.
We also have to look at the territories that are used not primarily for drug production, but for transhipment. When one goes to some of the islands in the Caribbean and sees the relatively aged boats that the customs men have to use to chase the drug dealers compared with the state-of-the-art speedboats and helicopters that the drug
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dealers have, it is no surprise that the islands are increasingly used as transhipment points. Again, if we are serious, we have to start by trying to choke off the drugs trade not only at the point of production, but at the point of transhipment. A lot of money could usefully be spent on ensuring that the Customs and Excise men of the islands that are used as transhipment points have exactly the same high-tech boats, helicopters and equipment to stop the drugs coming through their borders as the drug dealers do.I now come to what we are doing in the United Kingdom. There must be more money for Customs and Excise and more money for staffing to enable Customs and Excise staff to deal effectively with the drugs coming through our borders. We also need to look overall at the resources that we give to the drug problem. The Government talk about 4 per cent. of new resources; yet addiction has increased by 13 per cent. Offences related to drugs have increased by 11 per cent. No one in this debate has raised the question of the relationship between drug abuse in London and homelessness. We must look at the fact that 80 per cent. of drug users in London are unemployed. I am not saying that unemployment and homelessness lead directly to drug abuse, but for Ministers to say that they are serious about the drug problem when they do not look at that statistical relationship makes me wonder.
Especially in relation to women drug abusers, we must also look at the relationship between drug use and child abuse. One London clinic looked at a group of women drug addicts with whom it was dealing and found that 36 per cent. of those drug addicts were the victims of sexual abuse. The problem with this debate and the problem with the White Paper is that they look at the drug problem in narrow, theoretical and bureaucratic terms. In fact, this is a problem with global implications and complex social causes.
As well as giving resources to Customs and Excise and as well as trying to see the links with problems such as homelessness, we need to consider more resources for the police. Increasingly, the police are able to track down drug dealers only by using more and more resources and more and more money. Drug users are to the forefront in using new technology. Anyone who walks down Stoke Newington high street on a sunny day will see more expensive portable phones used by more people than he or she will ever see using them in the City of London. It is no longer a matter of policemen standing on street corners and saying, "You're nicked." They often have to set up prolonged surveillance arrangements. They have to undertake prolonged undercover work. They use video cameras to record transactions. They have to obtain corroborative evidence that will stand up in court. All those things cost money, and budgets are being stretched. It is no use having White Papers which tell us that a little more money should be provided for education. If we are to counter the multi-million-pound trade, we must make the necessary money available for the countervailing agencies, including Customs and Excise and the police.
I live in an area in which the drug epidemic causes human tragedy day on day. I have had the opportunity to travel to America to visit its inner cities and to see the devastation wrought by drug misuse in areas such as Harlem, parts of Chicago and parts of Washington. In Harlem, hundreds of babies are born every month
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addicted to crack. I do not want to see the tragedy that has engulfed the inner cities of the United States engulf my people and my community in the east end of London, or in any of our inner cities.We cannot argue with the White Paper as it stands, but if the Government were serious about fighting drugs they would put forward a far more widely encompassing strategy and would take on board some of the economic and social matters that I have mentioned. It is easy to talk about drug abuse in theory, to read reports and to blame others. The experience in America is that when the problem comes out of the ghetto and engulfs the children of the middle and professional classes, it is too late. I hope that the House will not wait until it is too late before embarking on a serious strategy and war against drugs.
12.16 pm
Mr. Richard Spring (Bury St. Edmunds): I congratulate my right hon. Friend the Lord President. He has pulled the entire process together by the production of the Green Paper, the initiation of the consultation process and the publication of the White Paper. On behalf of all my colleagues, I pay tribute to him for his critical role.
I pay tribute also to my hon. Friend the Member for Lewes (Mr. Rathbone), who for years has talked about drug issues in this place and outside, sometimes in a lonely way. The fact that the debate is taking place and the White Paper has been published is in large measure due to his efforts over many years.
The White Paper has a stated purpose, which I shall read out again. It states:
"To take effective action by vigorous law enforcement, accessible treatment and a new emphasis on education and prevention to: increase the safety of communities from drug-related crime; reduce the acceptability and availability of drugs to young people; and reduce the health risks and other damage related to drug misuse." I shall consider these three important and interdependent courses of action in turn.
There is no doubt that we have a rising incidence of drugs throughout the industrialised world, especially among young people under the age of 25. We have heard that 70 per cent. of crime is now drug related. In the United Kingdom, the value of the drug marketplace is over £3 billion. We have gangs involved, including Chinese triads, Jamaican yardies and gangs from Nigeria and the eastern Europe mafiosi. There is a huge commercial impetus to sell drugs to our young people.
There may be different geographic and different socio-economic groups, but drug abuse is now prevalent throughout the nation in all sectors of our society, and especially among young people. That applies in the metropolitan areas and in rural areas. I know that crime, whether in towns, villages or farms, is now very much linked to the consumption of drugs.
I very much welcome the fact that there are now defined targets for chief constables to draw up formal drugs strategies, to modify their operational procedures under an umbrella of national priorities. Undoubtedly, the White Paper will be a spur to chief constables to work closely with Customs and Excise, and, indeed, the National Criminal Intelligence Service. We must not forget the role of the National Criminal Intelligence Service. Many of its operatives live--and are stationed--abroad in the countries from which the supply comes.
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