Carolyn Harris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Carolyn Harris on 2016-03-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what research his Department is undertaking on the use and effects of psychoactive substances on the prison estate.

Andrew Selous

We do not tolerate drugs in prison. There is a wide-ranging programme of work being undertaken by NOMS and its partners to better understand and to tackle the use of New Psychoactive Substances (NPS), which have a particularly destructive effect in prisons.

In April we will introduce widespread drug testing of prisoners for NPS, we are training sniffer dogs to detect NPS, and we are also working with Health partners and others to provide appropriate information, guidance and support to offenders and those working with them in prison. We have a comprehensive range of security measures in place to detect drugs, and to prevent smuggling into prisons.