Debate contribution: Drug-testing Schemes

Debate contribution by Mr Paul Frew on 30 September 2025.

MLA

Mr Paul Frew

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

30 September 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Drug-testing Schemes

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5143016

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, for allowing that time. I applaud the proposers of the motion on drug-testing schemes. This is a vital issue that affects so many families and puts families into absolute despair. Families are in despair when are dealing with addiction; families are in despair when they get involved in the criminal justice system; families are in despair when they are involved in health emergencies; and families are in absolute despair when they lose a loved one. We all know someone who has been affected in some way by drug abuse, so it is really important that the Assembly and the Executive tackle this very important and critical issue. We should be here to save lives, and this is one topic on which we could do something good. We in the DUP think that the issue is so important that we had it in our manifesto:

"We will invest in anti-drug programmes, through both justice and education, to tackle the scourge of drugs in all their forms, in our communities, and provide greater support for those at risk of suicide."

We also thought it important to build on the motion. I appreciate the kind words from the proposer of the motion about what we have done to add to the motion through our amendment. The first line of the amendment changes the motion to make it read that the Assembly:

"recognises that there are no safe ways of taking illegal drugs",

and that any:

"harm reduction initiatives ... must complement the existing PSNI approach of identifying, arresting and placing before the courts those involved in the supply of illicit drugs".

There was a wee bit of uproar in my constituency a number of weeks ago when the Public Health Agency (PHA) put out its drug-taking advice. In one way, I can understand why the PHA felt that it needed to offer that advice. It used the words:

"If you choose to use drugs: Dose low and go slow Stick to one drug Never use alone".

I suppose that it is important that that message gets out there, but there are so many people in my community who thought that that was irresponsible, because those are words that you would imagine a drug addict using to advise a fellow drug addict on how to take drugs. That may well be something that they would say to a fellow addict. There is a very fine balance, and I am not sure that the PHA got it right. It caused a lot of alarm in my community. It illustrated to the public out there that, in some quarters of governance, there is nearly an admission of defeat when it comes to law enforcement addressing drug taking and drug abuse.

Yes, I do agree, for one simple reason: when you speak to the police commanders and officers, no matter in what guise, whether through the district policing partnerships, as they were known in my time, or the policing and community safety partnerships, they always talk about going to the market and to the place where they believe that criminals are active or where a police presence is needed. I cannot think of anywhere more important than at a festival. There should be a police presence at that festival to investigate, detect and remove drugs. Let us be under no illusion: the people who the criminal justice system should target are the drug dealers.

They peddle that poison in our communities, destroying lives and people, because, inevitably, people die because they take drugs.

The harm caused by drugs is very real for individuals, families, communities and public services. There were 1,771 drug-related deaths in Northern Ireland between 2013 and 2023, including 169 in 2023 alone. Furthermore, in the 12 months ending on 30 June 2025, there were 6,769 drug seizures and 3,049 drug-related arrests. Behind each of those statistics is a personal story: the pain of the families left bereaved; the grief that never ends; and the endless lives ruined by addiction or by involvement in criminality. We accept that there is a role for taking a harm-reduction approach, but that must not cross a line or be perceived to be condoning or normalising illicit drug use in any setting, let alone settings in which children or young people are found. Drugs that are seized must not be returned, and in no circumstances should advice be issued on the so-called safe use of drugs. That is where such approaches cross the line. A strong police response, targeting the sources of supply, disrupting drug trafficking, prosecuting those responsible and ensuring that the courts have the tools and guidance to hand down appropriate custodial sentences, must also be a priority. Arrangements for testing must not fetter police investigations or, indeed, be viewed as cause for police visibility to be reduced in concert spaces. I raise that point following the intervention from my colleague Jonny Buckley earlier. The police should not leave the scene because there are medical experts on-site. Rather, the two must work hand in hand, complementing each other in order to keep people safe. Moreover, we need to see a prevention-first response from the Executive. The motion deals with the final stage of the journey. It assumes that illicit drugs are in circulation. We know that they are. That should not be the extent of our ambition, however. It is simply not good enough to say, "There are drugs out there, and people will always take drugs illegally, so what can we do about it?". The truth is that we can do a lot more. We can do a lot more to keep people safe through police enforcement, but we can also do more in a medical context.

That absolutely needs to be addressed. We know that there are multitudes of young people at festivals at which drugs are in circulation. From time to time, there are really dangerous substances out there that are stronger than other drugs. Although we must get the message out that all drug taking is wrong, irresponsible and dangerous, there are occasions on which lethal batches of drugs are out there that will do massive damage to our young people and even kill them. More intelligence gathering has to be done. There therefore should be collaborative working undertaken between medical and education experts and the police enforcement agencies. At no time should anyone surrender drugs and then be given them back. Once we get drugs out of circulation, we should keep them out of circulation. Every pill that is taken out of circulation could save one person's life, so it is worth it. We support the motion and hope to see real progress made in future. It would be good to save a family from going through the pain that we have all witnessed families go through. It is awful for them to watch a family member experience addiction. Support is then needed. A criminal sanction may be required, so —

— that young person then enters the criminal justice system. They may even die.

1,178 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 13:16 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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