What assessment she has made of the effects of the Drugs Act 2005.

The Drugs Act 2005 introduced a series of provisions. The Home Office published research in 2007 that identified the positive effect of the Act in improving the grip that the Government exert on drug-using offenders, through the drug interventions programme, by getting larger numbers of drug users to enter drug treatment. Following our clarification in the Act of the law on magic mushrooms, the British crime survey 2006-07 showed a decrease in use in the past year across all age ranges, with a significant decrease among 16 to 24-year-olds, from 3 to 1.8 per cent.

That Act was passed with all-party approval—always a worrying sign—shortly before the last general election, when all parties wanted to appear tough on drugs. One of its provisions put magic mushrooms in exactly the same category as heroin—a tough decision, but a very stupid one. How many young people have been criminalised and imprisoned under that new provision?

As I have just said, since the passage of the Act the percentage of young people using magic mushrooms has fallen from 3 to 1.8 per cent. Significant increases in the import of fresh magic mushrooms to this country led the Government to take the action that they did. I know that my hon. Friend believes we should be doing other things, as well as taking action through legislation. He will have seen that the latest drugs strategy deals with many of the things for which he has long been calling—improved treatment, access to support for families, and many other measures that I know he believes also make a difference.

In a house in the centre of Macclesfield, in Bridge street, 17,000 cannabis plants were found. They were found only because the electricity system that was helping the plants to grow could not cope with the demand, a fire occurred and the fire service went in. Does the Minister accept that if more police were on the beat—on the street—going past such properties, that sort of thing would not occur, and that the police have a role in trying to ensure that drugs which are killers are not grown in the middle of a town such as Macclesfield?

The hon. Gentleman makes an important point, and of course police on the street make a real difference. I shall be meeting the Association of Chief Police Officers to discuss cannabis farms and factories, which are a major worry for us all. The hon. Gentleman will have heard my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary, in her announcement that the Government would reclassify cannabis from class C to class B, which will also help with police priorities, say that she would organise a meeting with the electricity companies and others to consider whether there is any way we can identify domestic properties that do not have a normal domestic bill, for obvious reasons, and take appropriate action. I hope that that reassures the hon. Gentleman.

Will my hon. Friend join me in congratulating Wakefield's police, who this year alone have shut down not one but eight cannabis factories in residential properties in Pinderfields road, Wesley street and on Bradford road, just a few doors down from where I live? Does he agree that we need to do more to shut down hydroponics shops that have sprung up in all sorts of places and which provide the seeds and the hardware kit that allow organised gangs of criminals to come in, use people who have been trafficked, and put the plague of cannabis on to our streets?

First, it would be remiss of me not to welcome my hon. Friend back to the House from her leave. We all welcome her back.

In similar vein to the answer that I gave to Sir Nicholas Winterton, my hon. Friend is right to point out the importance of taking action against cannabis factories and cannabis farms. As I said, the reclassification of cannabis will make a huge difference. In the same announcement in which my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary announced reclassification, she also announced that the Government would look into the issue of hydroponics, cannabis seeds and the impunity with which some shops sell paraphernalia which is often not for any other purpose. I hope that that review will start to answer some of the questions that my hon. Friend raised.