Memorandum submitted by the Ministry of
Justice
When giving evidence to the Home Affairs Select
Committee inquiry into the cocaine trade I agreed to send the
Committee some further details on a number of points. Please accept
my response below and the information annexed to this letter.
You asked about my department's contact with
the former Drug Czar, Keith Hellawell. Mr Hellawell resigned from
his post in 2002, which predates the creation of the Ministry
of Justice in 2007. However, the Home Office and many other departments
across government had extensive contact with the Drug Czar during
his tenure.
You also asked if I could recommend a prison
for members of the committee to visit. I would like to suggest
HMP Bullingdon, it being an establishment that covers the full
range of services that you are interested in. Please contact Lori
Chilton (details below), Head of Interventions & Substance
Misuse Group in the National Offender Management Service, whose
team will be happy help facilitate this visit.
Lastly, the Committee asked that I considered
two messages that should be given more prominence in Government
communications on cocaine: the link between cocaine production
and environmental damage and the physical risks to illegal cocaine
importing undertaken by foreign nationals. I believe that both
of these important messages have formed part of recent communication
campaigns such as "Shared Responsibility"—a Colombian
Government campaign that aims to raise the awareness in consumer
countries of many of the hidden impacts of the cocaine trade,
supported by the Government both through the work of FRANK and
during National Tackling Drugs Week—and the "Pablo"
campaign developed by FRANK to raise awareness of cocaine risks,
which has had a particular focus on the dangers of drug importing.
I will continue to engage with Ministers from other departments
such as the Home Office and Department of Health on the development
of such communication initiatives.
In addition to the questions raised during the
hearing, I have received from the Committee a request to provide
further details on two points. Both of these concern clinical
drug treatment in prisons—what constitutes minimum standards
and whether clinical treatment is available to address withdrawal
from powder cocaine use. The following, provided following consultation
with Department of Health, should answer your concerns:
The standards of clinical drug treatment are
clearly outlined in Drug misuse and dependence: UK guidelines
on clinical management (Department of Health (England), the Scottish
Government, Welsh Assembly Government and Northern Ireland Executive,
2007). These guidelines are based on current evidence and professional
consensus on how to provide drug treatment for the majority of
patients, including within prisons.
The 2007 clinical guidelines do not provide
rigid protocols on how clinicians must provide drug treatment
for all drug misusers. Neither does this guidance override the
individual responsibility of clinicians to make appropriate decisions
in the circumstances of the individual patient, in consultation
with the patient (and guardians and carers if appropriate). In
instances where clinicians operate outside the framework of this
guidance, they should be able to demonstrate the rationale for
their decisions.
Cocaine, in whatever form it is taken, can be
addictive. Treatment for withdrawal should be available in prisons
regardless of what substance the drug user is withdrawing from.
If a prisoner is withdrawing, he/she is likely to be in some discomfort
and the clinician should be taking steps to address this.
January 2010
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