We welcome the comprehensive and thorough report titled ‘Drugs’ by the Home Affairs Select Committee, following its extensive inquiry into the impact of drugs in England and Wales and of polices designed to tackle these.
The report provides an evidence-based, holistic view of the impact of measures currently in place to help to tackle the effects that drugs can have.
We will take time to assess and digest the comprehensive range of recommendations in the report but today we back in particular the Committee’s calls to:
- Balance criminal justice responses to drugs with a greater public health response
- Expand the range of drug treatment options for people who use treatment services, with more practical measures to reduce risks and harm
- Have a single responsible minister who works across both the health and home affairs departments
- Provide three-year funding cycles to help treatment services and partners plan what is needed in local areas
- Require local authorities to ring-fence public health funding allocations, so that resources are genuinely directed to drug treatment services
- Have a cross-departmental plan to reduce stigma and other barriers to treatment
We would also like to acknowledge the open and compassionate way in which the Committee hosted their roundtable events, which provided our colleagues and the people who use our services a comfortable environment to share their views and experiences for this report.
Read the full recommendations of the report here: Drugs - Home Affairs Committee (parliament.uk)