Brokenshire Backs Mephedrone Ban

James Brokenshire has given his support to measures which would make the so called 'legal high' Mephedrone a controlled drug. The Order makes Mephedrone a 'Class B' drug reflecting its broad equivalence with amphetamine. Speaking in the Commons James Brokenshire urged the Government to take urgent action to get supplies of the Mephedrone off the streets and to ensure that appropriate health and educational advice was provided in connection with the banning of the drug.

But the Shadow Home Affairs Minister criticised Labour Ministers for failing to take action sooner. Speaking during the Commons debate James Brokenshire said:

"It would seem that the Home Office knew of this problem months before. Why didn't the Government act sooner? Why did it sadly seem to have taken the reporting of the deaths of several young people to have finally prompted the Government into taking action?

"Policy making should have been capable of being developed in a measured way rather than the sudden realisation that there was an issue because of media coverage. It has been apparent for quite some time that there has been an emerging problem with this group of so called ‘legal highs'.

"It is desperately sad that as many as 25 deaths have been linked to Mephedrone in some way. Our thoughts go to the families who have lost loved ones. The question that needs to be considered is whether any of these tragic cases could have been avoided if the Government had acted sooner and a more robust mechanism had been in place for addressing newly emerging psychoactive substances had been in place."

James also criticised the Home Secretary's dealings with the Advisory Council for the Mis-use of Drugs following the sacking of Professor David Nutt, the former Chair of the ACMD triggering the resignations of several members of the Council - the most recent being at the weekend. James said that the Home Secretary's actions had caused "inertia and damaging delay at the heart of Government drugs policy."

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