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Mr. Michael Fabricant (Mid-Staffordshire): Does my right hon. Friend acknowledge the valuable help that has been given by the national lottery? Is he aware that Resolve, a national solvent abuse charity based in my constituency, has received a lottery grant of more than £70,000, which will be put to good use?

Mr. Newton: I am glad both to acknowledge my hon. Friend's point about the contribution that national lottery funds are making, not only in this aspect of our national life but in many others, and to note the importance of the solvent abuse problem and the need to tackle it. Many drug action teams have that very much on their agenda.

The private sector has also already demonstrated its potential for working with other agencies on drugs. Iceland plc, for example, inspired a recent Power Rangers competition for young people against drugs; Royal Insurance has sponsored a highly effective theatre group, which made a real impact on some primary school children whom I saw last October at a school in Notting Hill; and earlier this year, British Telecom produced "Sorted", a powerful and influential anti-drugs video that some hon. Members may have seen.

The video was a response to the tragic death of Leah Betts, following her 18th birthday party last November. It is fair to say that that death, which occurred at a hospital in my constituency, has done more than any other single incident to highlight the dangers of that hopelessly inappropriately named drug, Ecstasy. I especially acknowledge, as other hon. Members will want to, the tremendously courageous efforts of Leah's parents, Paul and Janet Betts, in mobilising public awareness about the dangers of Ecstasy and other drugs, and in highlighting the importance of reducing the supply of and demand for such drugs.

Lady Olga Maitland (Sutton and Cheam): In view of the tragic deaths of Leah Betts and many other young people, does my right hon. Friend agree that it is dangerous to encourage the call for the decriminalisation of drugs because it only exacerbates the problem? Drugs are evil and should stay outside the law. Will he make his position on that clear?

Mr. Newton: I shall indeed. The shortest answer that I can give is that I very much agree with my hon. Friend.

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Mr. Flynn: I have spoken to the person who carried out the post-mortems on seven people who have died from Ecstasy, and I believe that the Leader of the House has given an extremely misleading account of the cause of death of that tragic young woman and others. I shall refer to that later in the debate, but we should give accurate advice to young people so that further deaths are avoided. The two key factors are overheating and excess water consumption.

Mr. Newton: I am tempted to suggest that it might be more helpful if the hon. Gentleman kept those points for the speech that he will no doubt seek to make later rather than continuing to intervene on mine--not that I mind responding, but it makes it more difficult to develop a series of connected remarks. As it happens, I gave no account of the cause of Leah Betts' death; I merely referred to the unhappy fact that it was undoubtedly related to taking the drug Ecstasy.

Mr. Simon Hughes (Southwark and Bermondsey): The right hon. Gentleman referred to the private sector. Does he agree that one of the most effective private sector contributions of the past year has been the play and film "Trainspotting"? I do not know whether he has seen it, but I believe that there has been no more graphic, dramatic and effective presentation of the disruption, social unease and devastating effects of drugs than that film. If we could get the message across as clearly as that film does, we would have a far less difficult job in drugs education.

Mr. Newton: I have not had the opportunity to see that film. I note the hon. Gentleman's commendation; I have certainly read a great deal about it.

In response to the comments of my hon. Friend the Member for Sutton and Cheam (Lady Olga Maitland) and others, it is important to recognise that young people can offer a powerful antidote to the complacent assumption that drugs are an inevitable part of growing up. Prompted by an invitation, which I readily accepted, from the hon. Member for Newham, North-West (Mr. Banks), given on the Floor of the House at the time of the White Paper's publication, I visited an excellent youth awareness programme project in Newham. I have also visited a further project at Merton. At the anniversary event led by the Prime Minister, one of YAP's workers, a 17-year-old young man called Danny, presented a compelling case for young people to get credible information about the realities and dangers of drugs. That is the exact point made by the hon. Member for Southwark and Bermondsey (Mr. Hughes).

The hon. Member for Newport, West (Mr. Flynn) will be interested to note that when I went to Merton, I was struck by the strong reaction from young people to a recent "Panorama" programme, which they believed had sent out confused and contradictory messages about the dangers of illegal drugs.

When I have talked to young people, many of whom have unhappily misused drugs, but who are now helping to prevent other young people from doing so, I have met strikingly few who advocate the legalisation or decriminalisation of the drugs that they have experienced. I am happy to make it clear, once again, to my hon. Friend the Member for Sutton and Cheam that we have no intention of legalising or decriminalising any currently illegal drugs.

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There is simply no evidence that legalising any drugs, including cannabis, will do anything other than increase their use and the health risks and real harm that such drugs cause our young people. We should pay heed to the remarks of the mayor of Hulst in Holland, who has stated categorically and publicly what damage that country's liberalisation policy has caused in the past 20 years. Those problems are causing concern to a number of Holland's neighbours, as the Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, my hon. Friend the Member for Bolton, West (Mr. Sackville), made clear in a speech this week.

In the year since we launched "Tackling Drugs Together", we have seen some real progress. In an answer to a parliamentary question from my hon. Friend the Member for Lewes on 13 May, I outlined in considerable detail the achievement of all 49 White Paper tasks that were set for the first year. I do not propose to weary the House by rehearsing the full catalogue of those actions and steps forward, but I want to highlight some of the key developments.

First, in relation to supply reduction, enhanced efforts have been made on the international scene to tighten up the routes for drug trafficking. Only last month, the United Nations drugs control programme, with strong British support, made significant progress on action against Caribbean drug exports. Closer to home, co-operation between the police and Customs and Excise--which is improving all the time--assisted by the work of the National Criminal Intelligence Service, continues to develop, with joint operations and ever closer work together against joint targets and performance indicators. Police efforts to target major drug dealers within our country are complemented by Customs and Excise success in working against major drug trafficking organisations overseas. For example, customs dismantled or significantly disrupted nearly 100 international smuggling organisations during 1995.

Earlier this week, the Association of Chief Police Officers led a national drugs conference that was attended by a wider range of other agencies committed to tackling drugs than ever before. We heard of further innovative schemes and ideas to enhance efforts to reduce the supply of drugs. One excellent example, of which the hon. Member for Knowsley, North is no doubt aware, is that of Merseyside police--clearly at the front line of drug-related crime--which is working closely with the local authority to target drug dealing at nightclubs.

Similar good progress has been made towards reducing the health risks of drug misuse. The free national drugs helpline answered nearly 200,000 calls in the first year of its operation and is improving its service still further. The effectiveness review, undertaken under the auspices of the Department of Health, and on which the Under-Secretary of State for Health, my hon. Friend the Member for Battersea (Mr. Bowis), will comment later, reported on 1 May with the most comprehensive analysis ever of the effectiveness of drug treatment services in this country, and offered practical and effective steps for improving them still further. That task force, under the Rev. Dr. John Polkinghorne's leadership, gained widespread credit for its rigorous and realistic approach. Forty drugs projects were funded centrally last year to develop a range of early intervention services for a wide variety of vulnerable young people.

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To avoid any misunderstanding, I should like to emphasise that enforcement, sometimes known as interdiction, and improved services are important ingredients that go together with something no less important, the need to reduce demand for drugs. Our hopes for a most effective reduction in drug misuse in the longer term clearly lie in that objective. We have also made good progress in that respect. Schools are now taking forward national guidance sent to them last year by the Department for Education and Employment, through better, more consistent drugs education for our young people. They are responding positively to the emphasis in the guidance on developing policies for drug education, and on dealing sensitively but effectively with drug-related incidents.

A national drugs campaign aimed at young people and their parents was launched by the Health Education Authority in February. An important part of that is the provision of clear, straightforward information of the kind set out in the "Parents' Guide to Drugs", which was recently launched. That document was subject to some rather unfair and selective media quotation that gave a distorted impression of its contents, but it provides parents with an important basis of factual information. They need that to help their children resist illegal drugs.

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