Diana Johnson MP, Shadow Crime and Security Minister, commenting on the report of the Home Affairs Select Committee criticising the Government’s ‘sluggish’ response to the increasing problem of new psychoactive substances, said:

“This report is a shocking indictment of the Home Secretary’s complacency about legal highs. The number of new drugs, number of users of new drugs and the number of deaths caused by new drugs has all rocketed, and after reading this report Theresa May cannot continue to pretend she has the situation under control. She needs to adopt both of the Committee’s key recommendations on legal highs – new legislation and better education.

“Labour has long been calling for widespread, evidence-based education programmes to be in schools and supported by other media, but the Government have been refusing to do this. We have also been calling for new legislation to enable prosecutions of sellers of these legal highs.

"We should all be concerned that 1.5m are addicted to prescription drugs and we need a concerted action plan across Government to tackle this problem.”

Ends