Diana Johnson MP Labour’s Shadow Home Office Minister, responding to statistics released today by the Home Office on the extent and trends in illicit drug use among adults, said:

“This significant rise in the number of people using dangerous illegal drugs is deeply disturbing, particularly the notable rise amongst young people taking Class A drugs, such as Cocaine, Ecstasy and LSD.

“Alongside these figures, there has been a proliferation of man-made ‘legal highs’, which are often just as dangerous but worryingly these are still easily available online and from high street shops. The Government urgently need to tackle this problem and investigate whether the rise of these new substances is linked to increasing use of illicit drugs.

“The Government also needs to make prevention a central part of the drugs strategy, as Labour did.”