Mr. Drew Harris:

If I might say, very often drug dealing at a local level is actually managed through the couriering of single items of drugs. We are very conscious of the overall national approach to drugs. We believe in a health approach for those who are addicted to drugs, but at the same time, there is a huge criminal enterprise around the movement of huge amounts of drugs in our society.

Part of that seeks to evade detection by going down the route of single possession. We know this from intelligence and we have to counter it. This may be a reason we have seen an increase in prosecutions around simple possession. We are conscious of those who are addicted. Theirs is a health issue. The injecting facility is a health initiative and it is for the health side to promote that. I have never stated my objection towards, or even neutrality around, an injecting centre. It is just that the question has never been asked of me.