Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to (a) improve and (b) increase on-street testing for the drug spice.

A wide range of synthetic cannabinoids are misleadingly supplied under the street name Spice.

We recognise how dangerous these drugs can be. That is why we acted to control this group of substances as class B drugs under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and give the police the powers they need to take action, including making possession illegal and making longer sentences for dealers possible.

Our Drug Strategy emphasises the importance of a joined-up approach to tackling the harms caused by drugs to prevent substance misuse, restrict the supply of drugs and support people to recover from drug dependency. We strongly support multi-agency approaches being taken in local areas to respond to this issue in order to prevent harm to those who take them and reduce the burden they place on public services.

It is a matter for individual forces as to whether and how they use drug testing.