UK Police Contacted After Article Details Widespread Drug Use In Parliament
House of Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle said he would contact police after the Sunday Times reported illegal drugs were being used inside Parliament on Sunday.
According to a special advisor who spoke to the newspaper, “it’s common to see messed up people wandering the halls.”
The report details that trace amounts of cocaine were found in places accessible only for people with parliamentary passes, including 12 bathrooms. The allegations also name cannabis as a drug used by those in Parliament. There was also a report that they could deploy sniffer dogs in the building to find users.
It may not be that this affects any members of Parliament, but it could affect their staff.
The news comes after the U.K. government announced a plan to crackdown on drug use. The plan will provide more resources to addicts while cracking down on suppliers and recreational use. Members of parliament had a lot to say after the report came out.
Speaker Hoyle told the BBC that “the accounts of drug misuse in Parliament given to the Sunday Times are deeply concerning, and I will be raising them as a priority with the Metropolitan Police next week.”
Hoyle added that “while Parliament provides extensive support services for any staff or Members who may need help with drug misuse — and I would encourage anyone struggling with such issues to take up such help — for those who choose to flout the law and bring the institution into disrepute the sanctions are serious."
Minister for Policing Kit Malthouse told Sky News that he hopes none of his colleagues are affected, but "there are obviously several thousand people who work on the estate and I would be surprised if there weren't some lifestyle users of drugs amongst them."
Labor Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said, “it's not something I've ever seen but . . . you can't have an institution that's supposed to be law-making and in fact have within it so much law-breaking, so I think it's absolutely right that this is properly investigated."
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