Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans she has to ban the use of new psychoactive substances; and whether a timetable has been agreed for implemention of that ban.

The Government published its response to the report of the new psychoactive substances review expert panel on 30 October. The Government accepted the panel’s recommendation to develop proposals for a blanket ban on the sale of new psychoactive substances and to control synthetic cannabinoids under the Misuse of Drugs Act on the basis of their effects on the brain. The panel makes it very clear that these provisions require consideration and a number of risks need to be carefully managed.

The Government has already initiated statutory consultation with the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs on the proposals relating to synthetic cannabinoids and will consider its advice carefully before legislating. Work has begun to develop proposals for a blanket ban on the sale of new
psychoactive substances. We will set out further detail on these proposals in due course.