My noble friend Lord Tunnicliffe and I have tabled the second amendment in this group. The first amendment, which we have been discussing, relates to education in secondary schools. Our amendment provides for the Secretary of State to,
“establish a scheme to promote public awareness of new psychoactive substances, including the dangers these substances may pose”,
and to provide an annual report to Parliament. The amendment lists some of the issues that must be included in the report.
The expert panel report included recommendations on education and awareness. What is needed is a targeted public awareness campaign for young people and one specifically for parents, an evaluation of current education programmes, investment more generally in drugs education in schools and new psychoactive substances training for front-line staff. A comprehensive prevention campaign should include Public Health England, which should run a targeted campaign to alert people to the dangers of these drugs and to counter the myth that “legal” means “safe”. That campaign needs also to include the targeting of young people through social media.
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As has been said, we need proper drugs education in schools. At present 60% of schools spend less than an hour a term on drugs and alcohol education. We need informative education and awareness campaigns that include a harm-reduction message. For example, it needs to be got across that drugs can take hours to take effect, in order to help reduce the incidence of people taking more and then overdosing. People need to know the dangers of these drugs, such as overheating, anxiety and paranoia, and what to do if they encounter such problems. Without programmes of this kind, legislation can never be effective on its own. Yet as my noble friend Lord Howarth of Newport said, a recent Parliamentary Question revealed that between 2013 and 2015 only £180,000 was spent on new psychoactive-substance campaigns.
Accepting the amendments in this group, or similar amendments, and having them in the Bill helps to get across the key message about the importance of education, prevention and public awareness programmes. The requirement for an annual report from the Secretary of State also provides a check that proper and effective programmes are being developed and implemented and, equally importantly, their effectiveness reviewed. This would also provide an opportunity for Parliament to discuss the issue, based on the content of such a report.
I hope that the Minister will recognise the importance of the point being made by the amendments in this group and give a favourable response.