Clause 8 - Extended detention of suspected drug offenders
Drugs Bill
4:45 pm
Mr Alistair Carmichael (Shadow Minister (Northern Ireland), Northern Ireland Affairs; Orkney and Shetland, Liberal Democrat)
I beg to move amendment No. 42, in page 10, line 42, at end add—
'This power can only be exercised where the taking of an x-ray or the carrying out of an ultrasound scan has established the possibility of the person being detained having swallowed a substance reasonably believed to be controlled drugs.'.
We are back to our old friends the so-called swallowers. The clause will extend from 96 to 192 hours the period for which someone who has swallowed something believed to be a controlled substance can, on application, be remanded into police custody by a magistrate. My amendment provides that that power can be exercised only when the possibility of such a substance being present had been established by X-ray or ultrasound.
Eight days is a long time to hold someone in custody. Having given the police powers to order X-ray and ultrasound examinations, if we anticipate detention for a period of that nature that is the least that we should do. It is in everybody's interests for a person who has swallowed a substance to be scrutinised as closely as possible. The counterbalance to that is that we must first have established that there is a real prospect of there being something there. I deliberately worded the amendment to require the presence of ''controlled drugs'' rather than specifying class A or whatever. On reflection, I might have said ''a controlled drug'' rather than ''controlled drugs''. However, that is the sort of nicety that can be resolved if the Minister is minded to see the wisdom of the point.