On Thursday, March 27, 2025, I spoke in a Westminster Hall Debate on the Prevention of Drug Deaths. Due to the debate being oversubscribed and time constraints, I was unable to say my contribution in full; however, please find my full speech copied below.

Thank you, [Chair]. I congratulate the Honourable Member for Strangford for securing this important debate.

Drug deaths are at a record high. Mainly from Opioids, but deaths from cocaine have risen by almost a third, and synthetic opioids such as Fentanyls and Nitazenes present an increasing and alarming threat.

There is no doubt about it, this is a public health crisis.

Sadly, the North East has had the highest rate of drug deaths in England —three times higher than in London. In the latest statistics, released in October last year, the North East recorded 174 deaths per million, compared to an England average of 90.

Too often in the communities I represent, I have seen people turn to drugs because of deprivation and despair. And when addiction takes hold, it often leads to crime.

It is no coincidence that drug deaths are highest in areas of deepest deprivation. The data is clear: communities struggling with poverty and inequality are also those hit hardest by addiction. This is not a new problem, it is a complex problem which has been exacerbated by disinvestment in harm reduction and drug treatment, and if we are serious about tackling it, we must do something different.

To some, a tougher crackdown may seem like the obvious response, but we have over 50 years of evidence showing that punitive drug policies do not work. The ‘war on drugs’ has failed—not just in the UK, but globally. We cannot arrest our way out of this crisis.

That is why today, I want to offer a different perspective—one that moves beyond outdated, one-size-fits-all approaches. Abstinence-based recovery is one path, but it is not the only one. If we truly want to reduce drug deaths and support recovery, we must reduce harm, reduce stigma, and invest in treatment provision, with protected, ring-fenced, and sustained long-term funding.

This funding could support solutions like Opioid Substitution Treatment, which saves an estimated 1,000 lives annually, medically supervised overdose prevention centres, such as The Thistle safer consumption facility in Glasgow, Heroin Assisted Treatment, and increased availability of drug testing. These measures are crucial in addressing the current crisis and saving lives.

As Chair of the Drugs, Alcohol, and Justice APPG, which is supported by treatment providers Via, Waythrough, and With You, I recently chaired a meeting where Professor Sir Michael Marmot, the leading expert in health inequalities, laid out the stark reality. He told us: “Social injustice is killing on a grand scale.” He made it clear, that areas of greatest deprivation suffered the deepest cuts during austerity, exacerbating addiction and its consequences.

I encourage the Minister – indeed all government ministers – to consider how we, as a nation, can adopt the Marmot principles—principles that foster a fairer, more equitable society. A society where everyone is given the best possible start in life and where we work to prevent ‘deaths of despair’.

The late Ron Hogg, our former Police and Crime Commissioner in Durham, was a true pioneer in drug policy reform. He was bold, compassionate, and unafraid to challenge the status quo. He introduced heroin-assisted treatment and diversion schemes at a time when they were far from popular. But popularity was never his goal—reducing harm, saving lives, and easing the burden on our criminal justice system was.

Ron championed evidence-based approaches that not only reduced drug-related deaths but also cut crime. He was the driving force behind initiatives like ‘Checkpoint’, a diversion scheme which gave people a real chance to break the cycle of addiction and offending.

However, the UK is falling behind other countries as they explore alternative approaches. We must be bold when considering drug policy reform.

I have also had the privilege of welcoming Professor Dame Carol Black to the most recent APPG meeting. Her Independent Review of Drugs revitalised drug strategy and provided clear evidence of systemic failures.

She told us:

“You would expect and hope, and anticipate, that prison for drug-dependent people would be a place for rehabilitation. I will put it very simply—it is completely the reverse.”

Instead of being places of recovery, our prisons trap people in cycles of addiction. Many leave prison only to die within weeks or return to crime and prison time and time again. One of her key recommendations was for long-acting buprenorphine [byoo-pruh-naw-feen] or Buvidal to be available in all prisons—instead of forcing people to join what she called “a stigmatising queue” for methadone.

This recommendation has strong backing from Joy Allen, the current Durham Police and Crime Commissioner, and I strongly support it too. We must also ensure that Buvidal is readily available on release—because failing to do so only restarts the cycle of addiction and crime. I have recently tabled written questions to Ministers on this issue, as I believe funding should be ringfenced for Buvidal, ensuring that those leaving prison have access to the treatment they need to break free from addiction.

Furthermore, I was very pleased to hear from Dame Carol Black that she has had positive engagement with the Labour Government and I hope this Government will continue to heed her advice on drugs policy and prisons.

Last year we held a drop-in briefing, where I and other MPs were trained to administer Naloxone, a life-saving antidote to opioid overdose. We also took an opportunity to add our support to the Anti-Stigma Network, which challenges the shame that stops people from seeking treatment; and view Recovery Street films which highlight the achievements of people in recovery. I hope the Minister might support us in such efforts to raise awareness of these issues.

As well as promoting treatment, we must tackle stigma—because stigma kills. It prevents people from seeking help, it fuels discrimination, and it stops us from implementing harm-reduction policies that save lives.

I also hope that the Minister will meet with me and charities providing vital treatment services, as frontline workers and service users are best placed to shape them.

These services reduce crime, ease pressure on our courts and prisons, and save millions in wasted public spending—yet they have been chronically underfunded. The UK loses £20bn to drug-related harm every year—yet we spend just a small fraction of this on treatment. That is not just a moral failure, but an economic one too.

Make no mistake—this is a critical public health crisis that requires a bold, cross-departmental approach. We cannot afford to keep repeating the same failed policies while drug deaths continue to rise, and communities suffer.

The evidence is clear: investment in treatment works, harm reduction saves lives, and tackling stigma is essential. We must stop seeing addiction solely as a criminal justice issue and instead treat it as the urgent public health emergency that it is.

The cost of inaction is devastating—not just in lives lost, but in the economic and social damage caused by preventable drug-related harm. If we are serious about reducing drug deaths, breaking the cycle of addiction and crime, and easing pressure on our NHS and criminal justice system, then we must prioritise treatment, invest in harm reduction, and listen to the experts, practitioners, and those with lived experience.

To quote Raymond Williams, as Michael Marmot did when he addressed the APPG;

“To be truly radical is to make hope possible rather than despair convincing.”

For too long, our drug policy has been built on despair, fear and punishment, but it would be better built on hope. Hope is found in evidence-based treatment, in harm reduction, in tackling stigma, delivered through compassionate public health policies rather than punitive criminal justice policies.