I did not expect to be in confrontation with the hon. Lady so early on, but I think, yet again, that she is wrong. I have been to the Republic of Ireland, as well as to Northern Ireland, and not only seen the damage that these psychoactive substances have done, but met Ministers and their chemists. They think their legislation is working, and I agree with them, and New South Wales has implemented similar legislation within the past five days. The rest of the world may not be right, but in this case I think it is. I have looked extensively at this issue, as has the Select Committee on Home Affairs previously—it is doing so again and we are awaiting its report. In the Republic of Ireland the head shops vanished overnight. There are young and old people who thought these drugs were safe. Whether or not we or the scientists like to call them that, they are classed as and felt in the public domain to be legal, safe highs. That is what young people think they are.
Psychoactive Substances Bill [Lords]
Proceeding contribution from
Mike Penning
(Conservative)
in the House of Commons on Monday, 19 October 2015.
It occurred during Debate on bills on Psychoactive Substances Bill [Lords].
About this proceeding contribution
Reference
600 c731 Session
2015-16Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamberSubjects
Librarians' tools
Timestamp
2015-10-20 16:46:24 +0100
URI
http://hansard.intranet.data.parliament.uk/Commons/2015-10-19/15101929000036
In Indexing
http://indexing.parliament.uk/Content/Edit/1?uri=http://hansard.intranet.data.parliament.uk/Commons/2015-10-19/15101929000036
In Solr
https://search.parliament.uk/claw/solr/?id=http://hansard.intranet.data.parliament.uk/Commons/2015-10-19/15101929000036