Clause 7 - Testing for presence of class A drugs

Part of Drugs Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 4:30 pm on 1 February 2005.

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Photo of Caroline Flint Caroline Flint Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office) 4:30, 1 February 2005

It is rather hard to answer that question. The police will obviously deal with situations at their discretion at any time. The issue is that people have committed an offence and will be tested. I do not know if I heard the hon. Gentleman correctly, but unless he wants to repeat what he said, I will check Hansard to see whether we are missing out anything that he said.

Earlier, I mentioned the refusals that we have seen through the drug intervention programme and the criminal justice intervention programme, and how those have worked in practice. I have been to a number of custody suites and seen the whole process in action, and I have been reassured by the police focus and what they are trying to achieve in terms of the connection with the specified drugs, and by the way in which they have handled the process. Other people—not only police officers but arrest referral workers or even detention officers in the custody suites—may carry out the drug test, and I probably have not recognised that.

My hon. Friend the Member for Bassetlaw raised a point about methadone. We do not test for methadone, and nor does the test detect it. Although I understand his point about the misuse of prescribed methadone and how it may be used on our streets—issues of how prescribing takes place and shared care are very important—the link between crime and the misuse of methadone is not felt to be based on evidence. It is usually the case that a person is addicted to heroin, so might be using methadone then topping up on heroin, or something like that. However, if the problem that he raised comes up, methadone could be specified in a statutory instrument under the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000, and we will keep the matter under review. Again, I will read Hansard and look into that issue.