Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment he has made of progress in tackling the production and distribution of illegal psychoactive substances.

Section 58 of the Act commits the Secretary of State to review the operation of the Act, prepare a report of the review, and lay a copy of the report before Parliament 30 months after the commencement of the Act. The 30 month review of the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016 will be published in November 2018.

Early evidence since the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016 (2016 PSA) came into effect shows that it is working. It has removed psychoactive substances from open sale.

Since the Act came into force, over 300 retailers across the United Kingdom have either closed down or are no longer selling psychoactive substances, police have arrested suppliers and action by the National Crime Agency has resulted in the removal of these drugs for sale on UK based websites.