Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to review the drug classification of (a) monkey dust and (b) other synthetic cathinones.

On 10 May 2023, I commissioned the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) to conduct an updated harms assessment of synthetic cathinones, currently class B, including those sold under the street name ‘monkey dust’. I have asked that this assessment includes consideration of whether certain synthetic cathinones are significantly more harmful than others and may therefore merit a separate approach in terms of classification.

The Government has a statutory duty to consult the ACMD prior to making any changes to classification under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. Once their report is published, I will carefully consider the ACMD’s expert advice to inform the Government’s decision on how best to tackle misuse of these drugs, including the appropriate classification.