Attempts to fill "information vacuum" on drug review

Thursday 20 May 2021

A deputy is calling for answers from two States Committees on the progress made investigating non-punitive sentences for people found with small amounts of drugs, due to escalating concerns over the "severity" of current sentencing.

Last July, the States directed the Home Affairs and Health & Social Care Committees to investigate options for alternative, non-punitive ways to deal with the possession and use of small quantities of cannabis and other illegal drugs.

10 months on, Deputy Sasha Kazantseva-Miller is seeking an update on the work completed to date through oral questions at the upcoming States meeting. With the States due to set its spending agenda in July for the rest of the political term, she wants to make sure the work doesn't fall by the wayside. 

"There has been a lot of community interest in this area," she told Express. "I felt that there hasn’t been any real communication of where the action areas are and I thought it was important to fill that information vacuum, given that this issue is clearly important to our community."

Pictured: Deputy Kazantseva-Miller said States Deputies "get a lot of emails, complaints and requests for action" about drug sentencing. The existence of the ongoing review, however, is not as well-known. 

There are numerous ongoing reviews that touch upon personal use drugs, including HSC's Combined Use Strategy and Home's wider Justice Review, which was worked on by the previous committee, only to be handed over to their successors without any conclusions or recommendations. 

Deputy Kazantseva-Miller pointed out that this resolution was clear in its focus and urgent in its necessity.

"We obviously commission these reports and reviews with the intention to act upon them," she said. 

"If for any reason it is not prioritised or it is deprioritised as part of the Government Work Plan [in July] , it will then become very difficult to reprioritise it."

Pictured: Former Deputy Emilie McSwiggan led the successful motion last June, saying there was a "fundamental question about what and who we choose to criminalise" that had to be answered. 

The Rule 11 questions request updates on progress to date and where the work sits right now.

One question seeks guarantees on whether the work on alternative sentencing options is a priority.

"Given the sentiment from many in our community about the severity of sentencing and the perceived disproportionate damage caused to the lives of those involved, would the President of the [HSC] Committee agree that this is an action that requires urgent prioritisation under the Government Work Plan?"

Pictured: People can end up in Guernsey's Royal Court and lengthy prison terms for small amounts of drugs. 

Rule 11 questions are posed and answered in the States of Deliberation.