He raised the issue at Justice Questions in the House of Commons today.
Speaking afterwards he said, “With 130 drug related deaths across the United Kingdom on average every week, we cannot ignore the impact that drugs are having. This is not a problem isolated to particular areas or just to bigger cities. The impact is felt in virtually every community across every region of the country.
Here in Northern Ireland there are 200 deaths alone each year with a drugs related cause and the scale of this issue is why DUP colleagues in the Assembly today are raising the scourge of ketamine. It is right the Government has commissioned advice on potentially classifying it as a Class A substance but it is important there is feedback in that process from across the UK.
Whether it is on enforcement or prevention, measures will only be successful if there is a pan-UK approach. That must entail a joined-up approach between central government and the devolved administrations. I would urge the Government to take this forward as a priority.”