‘NPS have created significant additional
harm and are now the most serious threat
to the safety and security of the prison
system that our inspections identify.’
Nick Hardwick, HM chief inspector of prisons
T
he third reading of the Psychoactive Substances Bill took place in Parliament
on 20 January, and is due to be become an act on 6 April 2016. The bill has
been subject to some controversy over definitions, not least the chance that
poppers (alkyl nitrites) could be outlawed – which led to MP Crispin Blunt
‘outing’ himself as a popper user during the debate in Parliament. The accuracy of
reports on harm, efficacy of a blanket ban, and accusations of rushed legislation
have been consistently raised. One of the major issues with NPS has been a sharp
rise of misuse in UK prisons.
In December 2015 HM chief inspector of prisons, Nick Hardwick, released a hard-
hitting, upfront report on the misuse of substances in prisons. In the report he
stated that NPS have created ‘significant additional harm’ and ‘are now the most
serious threat to the safety and security of the prison system that our inspections
identify.’ At the time the report was being made, ‘there was an acceleration in the
use and availability of NPS’. Synthetic cannabinoids like Spice and Black Mamba
were used by 10 per cent of those surveyed. This is much higher than in the
community, where only 6 per cent of those surveyed said they had used synthetic
cannabinoids in the two months before going into custody.
Right now, NPS are banned in prisons, but their legal status and wide
accessibility outside the prison gates makes them an attractive proposition for
smuggling into prisoners. As Hardwick’s report states, ‘despite the high mark-up,
they [NPS] are still relatively cheap in prisons.’ On top of this, current testing
methods cannot detect synthetic cannabinoids, and new testing regimes can
struggle to keep up with ever changing composition. It takes time to develop new
drug tests, change legislation and develop new resources. When you’re testing for
such a variety of chemical compositions, the NPS market likely always remains one
step ahead.
Media reports have tended to focus on novel smuggling techniques, including
drugs in tennis balls catapulted over prison walls, or even flown in using drones.
Category C training prisons, which have large perimeters and relatively free prisoner
movement as they go to and from work, are most susceptible to drugs coming over
the wall. Of course, usual routes are also taken, through social visits and internal
corruption. Hardwick controversially states that, ‘it has sometimes been difficult to
make best use of the information available from individual establishments and
other sources to identify changing needs and modify the strategy accordingly. In
part, this reflects a too-willing acceptance in some establishments that drug misuse
is an inevitable part of prison life and cannot be reduced.’
The danger of NPS use in prisons is highlighted in the report through anecdotal
and quantitative evidence. Nineteen deaths in prison occurred between April 2012
and September 2014, where the prisoner ‘was known, or strongly suspected, to
have been using NPS-type drugs before their deaths.’ The report surveyed more than
10,000 prisoners and found that, ‘debt associated with synthetic cannabis use
sometimes leads to violence and prisoners seeking refuge in the segregation unit or
refusing to leave their cells. Debts are sometimes enforced on prisoners’ friends or
cell-mates in prison, or their friends and families outside.’
Not every prison has the same issues and it is not just the supply of NPS that is the
problem in the UK prison network. Why have NPS become so attractive to prisoners?
12 |
drinkanddrugsnews
| February 2016
New psychoactive substaNces
Tough
measures
Kit Caless examines
some of the issues
behind the rush to
outlaw new psycho-
active substances (NPS)
THE PSYCHOACTIVE SUBSTANCES BILL
is an unnecessary and unworkable law,
Niamh Eastwood, Release’s executive
director, told the HIT
Hot Topics
conference, as the ‘unstoppable’ bill was
rushed through parliament.
‘It’s opened a Pandora’s Box,’ she
said. Media reports of our streets being
‘awash with these drugs’ meant that
‘we have to respond, regardless of harm
or prevalence… but it’s a tiny number
compared to the treatment system not
being responsive to the needs of people
accessing it.’
The Centre for Social Justice had used
its
Broken Britain
report to justify the
progress of the bill through the House,
said Eastwood, quoting
Vice
, that ‘the
death stats that government’s using to
ban legal highs are total bullshit’.
Last year’s Global Drug Survey (GDS)
had highlighted the extent of alcohol
and tobacco use. But prohibition was
not about the drugs, said Eastwood, it
was about ‘social control’ and ‘the
othering of certain groups’, including
young people in deprived areas and
people in prison.
The bill had not only created ‘a
number of strange possession offences’,
but penalties showed ‘no
proportionality’. Furthermore the ban on
exportation and importation of
psychoactive substances for personal
use meant head shops would close and
people would buy ‘dodgy stuff’ online.
‘IT’S UNWORKABLE’
The NPS legislation is unworkable and irrelevant,
say Niamh Eastwood and Harry Sumnall
Photos by Nigel Brunsdon
