Response letter from Sarah Jones to the ACMD (accessible)

Question 1

Recommendation 1

Accepted Answer

The ACMD recommendation:

“Recommendation 1: all synthetic cathinones captured by the UK generic text remain Class B [Misuse of Drugs Act] and Schedule 1 [Misuse of Drugs Regulations] materials.”

The Government’s response:

The Government accepts this recommendation.

Question 2

Recommendation 2

Accepted Answer

The ACMD recommendation:

“Following appropriate consultation, the UK generic text for cathinones in the [Misuse of Drugs Act] should be updated, so that selected psychoactive cathinones that are not currently captured by the current text are included as Class B, Schedule 1 compounds.”

The Government’s response:

The Home Office has consulted with appropriate stakeholders, including academia and the chemical and pharmaceutical industries, as to whether the substances which would be newly controlled by the generic definition have legitimate uses. No such uses have been identified. The Government therefore accepts this recommendation and will place the draft legislation before Parliament as a matter of urgency.

Question 3

Recommendation 3

Accepted Answer

The ACMD recommendation:

“Healthcare commissioners, local authorities and other social care partners, NHS Mental Health Trusts, and other providers of mental health and/or drug treatment services should review local services and their referral pathways to ensure that they adequately encompass those consuming synthetic cathinones. Specifically, these services and their staff should be aware of the latest evidence on harms, as contained in this report, and their care pathways must be accessible and able to provide high-quality care for those living with relevant mental health and drug use disorders.”

The Government’s response:

The Government accepts this recommendation.

In England, the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) provides funding, through the Public Health Grant, to local authorities which are responsible for commissioning drug and alcohol services within their area that meet the assessed needs of their populations. Working with Integrated Care Boards they ensure there are effective pathways to meet complex needs.

From 2026, all drug and alcohol treatment and recovery funding will be channelled through the Public Health Grant, with over £13.45 billion allocated across three years, including £3.4 billion protected for drug and alcohol treatment and recovery. This is the first multi-year settlement in over a decade and provides the certainty for local government to plan and invest for the medium term. 

The Co-occurring Mental Health and Substance Use Delivery Framework, which was developed by DHSC and NHS England and published in December 2025, sets out national commitments and calls to the sector to improve joined-up, person-centred care across drug and alcohol treatment and mental health services.

Question 4

Recommendation 4

Accepted Answer

The ACMD recommendation:

“The ‘Housing First’ model should be used to tackle homelessness in deprived communities, including amongst those with drug use disorders such as synthetic cathinone use. Adequate resource should be made available to allow this to happen.”

The Government’s response:

The UK Government partially accepts this recommendation. Recent Rough Sleeping Questionnaire (2025) findings show that 54% of respondents reported substance misuse needs and 83% mental health vulnerabilities, highlighting the need for integrated housing and treatment support. Housing First can be an effective model, alongside other models of housing-led support. However, local flexibility is prioritised across homelessness and rough sleeping funding, and it is at the local authority’s discretion how to use their funding to provide suitable homelessness services that meet local and individual needs.

Funding for homelessness and rough sleeping services over this Spending Review period (2026/27 - 2028/29) is provided through the Homelessness, Rough Sleeping, and Domestic Abuse Grant, worth £2.7 billion over the multi-year settlement. Local authorities can fund housing-led support models such as Housing First through this grant, while giving local authorities flexibility to commission the services that meet the needs of people in their local communities. This also includes £159 million to fund additional supported housing support services in targeted local authorities with the greatest single homelessness and rough sleeping pressures.

In addition, the Prime Minister has announced an urgent national drive to end rough sleeping at the earliest opportunity. This is backed by an additional £442 million – taking overall funding to record levels. The Rough Sleeping Programme will provide everyone with a route off the streets this winter. For many this means a roof over their head but it could also mean support to address their mental health or addiction needs or help to find work. For others it could mean support to return to their home country. The Rough Sleeping Programme will include immediate access to accommodation and support to be in place before Christmas, while helping people move towards settled accommodation where appropriate and funding intensive support and accommodation for people with the most complex needs and experiences of long-term rough sleeping.

We have taken learning and evidence from the principles of the Housing First model to underpin the design of this new Rough Sleeping Programme while retaining local flexibility. Interventions may include Housing First and other types of housing-led models and supported housing. Guidance and allocations for the new rough sleeping programme have now been published and funded areas have been made aware. Resources are also published on GOV.UK to support local authorities and partners to establish Housing First schemes, and the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) funded the Homeless Link’s Housing First Fidelity Assurance Framework through the Voluntary and Community Frontline Sector (VCFS) programme.

Relevant funding is also available in the public health grant. From 2026/27 to 2028/29, the Government has committed £60 million to the Housing Support programme, jointly coordinated by MHCLG and the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID), within DHSC. The programme will continue to fund targeted housing support in the 32 areas for those in drug and alcohol treatment, addressing housing needs that often hinder treatment engagement. The Rough Sleeping Drug and Alcohol programme also provides £185 million to 91 areas and three Pan-London projects. This programme provides evidence-based drug and alcohol treatment and wraparound support to improve access to treatment for people experiencing rough sleeping, including for those with co-occurring mental health needs.

We remain committed to working with partners to ensure that people receive the support they need to recover and move on from rough sleeping and to prevent it in the first place wherever possible. We set out more detail in our National Plan to End Homelessness, which we have developed working with mayors and councils across the country to get us back on track to ending homelessness and rough sleeping.

The Welsh Government fully supports Housing First and has invested funding in this evidenced based approach since 2018. The Welsh Government expects Housing First to play an increasing role in local approaches to tackling homelessness with particular focus on complex needs. The majority of Local Authorities in Wales operate Housing First services, with 22 Housing First projects operating across 18 of the 22 Local Authorities.

Housing First is proven to be particularly successful in Wales with the latest Housing First data (correct to the end of March 2023) indicating an impressive 91.5% sustainment rate. The model is targeted at people who have a history of rough sleeping with chronic and complex support needs – including substance use and mental health needs.

The Welsh Government works with Cymorth Cymru to coordinate the Housing First Wales Network. The Network is for members and organisations who manage Housing First projects and who have an interest in developing and delivering Housing First in Wales. With broad representation from the third sector, local authorities, social landlords and health boards, it aims to support the effective delivery and expansion of Housing First across Wales by sharing good practice, facilitating discussions about key issues, developing solutions to challenges, and producing reports and guides to support the sector.

The Network has also enabled the development and delivery of the Housing First Accreditation scheme, the first of its kind in the UK. As a result, four projects have achieved accreditation, demonstrating a high degree of fidelity to the Housing First Principles, a ‘benchmark’ for other projects to emulate.

Question 5

Recommendation 5

Accepted Answer

The ACMD recommendation:

“Drug users in contact with the criminal justice system should be directed towards appropriate health and social services using established referral pathways, when this is appropriate.”

The Government’s response:

The Government partially accepts this recommendation.

We remain committed to reducing drug misuse and diverting individuals who use illegal drugs into appropriate interventions. We know that continued engagement with treatment and recovery is vital to address the underlying causes of offending. Offenders who complete drug or alcohol treatment are 19 percentage points less likely to reoffend within two years compared to those who drop out of treatment.

Drug treatment services play a vital role in reducing drug misuse, drug-related crime, and reoffending. The Home Office supports the use of out of court resolution (OOCR) powers and drug testing on arrest (DToA) which give individuals who commit drug-related offences the opportunity to change their behaviour through meaningful interventions.

DToA allows the police to identify people suspected of having committed certain offences who are under the influence of certain Class A drugs and refer them into treatment services where appropriate. The Crime and Policing Act 2026 amends the list of drugs which those people could be tested for, to cover specified Class A, B and C drugs, and expands the range of trigger offences. The wider range of controlled drugs will be specified in secondary legislation. These measures will help to identify and divert a wider cohort of individuals whose drug use contributes to their offending behaviour.

OOCRs are an alternative to prosecution and are used when an individual has committed a relevant offence and, having considered the gravity matrix, it is deemed appropriate to divert them away from formal prosecution. Their use can play a vital role in delivering swift, proportionate, and rehabilitative justice, particularly for low-level offending. OOCRs can either be:

‘statutory’ resolutions (such as an adult or youth conditional caution or a caution for a child, a penalty notice for disorder); or
‘non-statutory’ resolutions (such as an adult simple caution, community resolution, cannabis warning, deferred caution or deferred prosecution).

We are keen to see police forces make effective use of OOCRs and are committed to ensuring this is done in a consistent way.

The Government’s Innovation Fund to Reduce the Demand for Illicit Substances, delivered through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), is supporting the development and evaluation of evidence-based interventions to help us understand what works and to reduce drug use across the population.

Alongside these programmes, we are embedding established referral pathways and ensuring that individuals willing to engage with treatment services can do so as an alternative to arrest. This aligns directly with the ACMD recommendation, and the Home Office will continue to work with the police to promote the use of OOCR sanctions which could help people who commit drug-related offences to change their behaviour.

Turning to people who are within the prison and probation system, in line with the Independent Sentencing Review recommendations we are focused on diverting more offenders away from custody where appropriate, including increasing our use of Community Sentence Treatment Requirements, such as Drug Rehabilitation Requirements (DRRs). Sentencing in individual cases is a matter for the independent judiciary. DRRs can be considered as part of a community or suspended sentence order for anyone assessed as suitable due to a drug need, and are intended to address the underlying causes of drug-driven offending behaviours and to improve health outcomes. Wider referrals into treatment can also be made if a DRR is not appropriate. The drug testing panel linked to treatment requirements is kept under review.

As above, responsibility for funding of drug and alcohol treatment lies with DHSC. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) works closely with DHSC to ensure referral pathways are accessible for offenders.

Keeping prison leavers in treatment on release is crucial to reduce reoffending, as is accessing wider support such as accommodation to resettle effectively in the community. Those without stable accommodation are nearly 50% more likely to reoffend.

To drive up continuity of care, MoJ has recruited Health and Justice Partnership Coordinators (HJPCs) across all probation regions in England and Wales to strengthen operational links between local authority commissioning teams, treatment providers and probation, bolstering support for those with drug and alcohol needs. The proportion of adults successfully engaging in community treatment within three weeks of release in the three months to May 2026 was 52%. This is a substantial increase from 38% in April 2021.

In the National Plan to End Homelessness, published in December 2025, the Government has committed to halving the proportion of offenders on probation who become homeless on their first night out of prison and increasing the number of prison leavers in settled accommodation at three months after release and thereafter, by the end of this Parliament. If individual or statutory accommodation provision has not been secured in advance of release, then prisoners at risk of becoming homeless can be offered up to 12 weeks of basic accommodation on release by HM Prison and Probation Service with support to move to settled accommodation as a place of last resort.

Question 6

Recommendation 6

Accepted Answer

The ACMD recommendation:

“The government should establish an appropriately managed fund, possibly within the ‘Safer Streets’ initiative, to support local policing and/or public health initiatives in communities that are particularly affected by drug use.”

The Government’s response:

The Government does not accept this recommendation. We support the aim behind the recommendation of ensuring that effective interventions such as street lighting and CCTV can be deployed in local communities, but we consider that these can be established through existing funding sources. We are investing significantly in local policing and communities to tackle those problems which often correlate with drug use. The ACMD proposal to establish a new fund would require a reduction in these existing police or healthcare budgets.

Significant funds are allocated to frontline services in local areas where drugs are a problem. These include:

the Public Health Grant (as set out in the response to Recommendation 3);
£66.75 million allocated to Serious Violence Reduction Programmes from the 2026/27 Police Settlement, including to maintain the network of 20 Violence Reduction Units;
the Knife Crime Concentration Fund, which involves £26.25 million in 2026/27; and
£33.4 million of dedicated funding to support the County Lines Programme in 2026/27.

The Government recognises the outsized effects of prolific offenders on the criminal justice system. Prolific offenders represented just 9% of the offending population but accounted for 52% of all convictions between 2000 and 2021. Each prolific offender is estimated to cost society £3.2 million (2026/27 figures) over their offending lifetime. We also recognise that these offenders are often affected by drug use. 74% of prolific offenders have a drug misuse need and prolific offenders are more likely to have committed drug offences (14%) and violent offences (10%) as their most recent offence, than on their first appearance in the criminal justice system (3% and 6% respectively).^{[footnote 1]}

Prolific offenders have a higher prevalence of criminogenic needs than non-prolific offenders. The difference in prevalence of need between prolific and non-prolific is most pronounced for drug misuse (21 percentage points), as well as accommodation (16 percentage points) and employment (16 percentage points) needs.^{[footnote 2]}

The Home Office is working with departments across government and with police forces to develop and pilot a model to improve approaches to identifying, targeting and disrupting the most prolific retail crime offenders. Our aim is to test a systematic approach between policing, wider public services, retailers and community partners to address offending behaviour; improve health, wellbeing and social outcomes; and increase feelings of safety amongst the public and retailers. We intend to use learning from these pilots to establish a model for national wider roll-out and cover broader offending behaviour.

With an estimated two thirds of shoplifting offences being committed by those who use heroin or crack cocaine more than twice a week, addressing their substance misuse needs will be a major objective of the pilots. While swift and certain justice must remain a key part of our response, we want to ensure every opportunity to divert prolific offenders with a clinical need into suitable treatment is exploited in order to address the underlying cause of their offending (suitable substance misuse treatment has been proven to reduce reoffending by 44%). We also want to ensure that access to treatment is fast-paced and that, once there, engagement with treatment is maintained over a sustained period.

Question 7

Recommendation 7

Accepted Answer

The ACMD recommendation:

“More detailed information on the effects of synthetic cathinones should be made available to people who use drugs, the public and staff who may encounter drug users, including those working in health, social care, housing and criminal justice settings.”

The Government’s response:

The Government accepts this recommendation.

In England, DHSC has updated FRANK, its public facing website on drug information, to include new information on synthetic cathinones based upon the recommendation.^{[footnote 3]}

The Welsh Government has updated content on the Wales Drug & Alcohol Helpline (DAN 24/7) website.^{[footnote 4]}

The Northern Ireland Department of Health is content to accept this recommendation and notes that updated age-appropriate information will be provided as appropriate through a range of channels in Northern Ireland.

The Scottish Government accepts this recommendation and will ensure that its public facing website on drug information, ‘Know the Score’, is updated to include relevant information on synthetic cathinones.

The National Poisons Information Service has published two new pages on TOXBASE:

a page on the synthetic cathinone MDPHP
a page on ‘monkey dust’, advising that a stimulant toxidrome is expected. There is a warning that different products may have different compositions, and a link to the ‘Unknown Drugs of Abuse’ page for instances where other clinical features appear.

Question 8

Recommendation 8

Accepted Answer

The ACMD recommendation:

“More detailed and regular analysis of the contents of ‘monkey dust’ and other commonly encountered NPS preparations should be carried out to monitor their contents and, when possible, purity.”

The Government’s response:

The Government does not accept this recommendation. Police forensics budgets are limited and using them for research would reduce the sums available for testing to secure convictions in individual cases. However, tests on ‘monkey dust’ carried out for the purpose of securing convictions will collectively yield valuable information, and the police will be happy to make that information available to those who may do research in this area.

As I set out in greater detail under Recommendation 9 below, I have sought assurances that there are funding opportunities available for this type of activity.

Nationally, the Home Office is supporting forensic analysis of NPS through our emerging drugs and technologies (EDAT) programme, which replaced the Forensic Early Warning System (FEWS) programme at the end of 2024. It supports forensic testing and the creation of a catalogue of reference samples for new psychoactive drugs in order to support the CPS and police in securing prosecutions under the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016. EDAT also funds expert witnesses in psychoactivity in court cases and can support one-off projects providing testing for priority substances. The programme is jointly led by Home Office Science and Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, with programme oversight from the Home Office. EDAT reporting is fed back to both the Home Office and the ACMD, contributing to decision making on the classification of drugs.

I also understand that researchers at the University of Staffordshire have been working with Staffordshire Police to analyse seized samples of ‘monkey dust’.^{[footnote 5]}

Question 9

Recommendation 9

Accepted Answer

The ACMD recommendation:

“The development of improved field testing of street drugs, including ‘monkey dust’ preparations, should be funded with the aim of detecting different synthetic cathinones.”

The Government’s response:

The Government does not accept this recommendation. Police forces are operationally independent and it is for each chief constable to determine where the funds which are available to their force for field testing are most effectively deployed. Forces in areas where, for example, synthetic cathinone use is most prevalent may decide that this is a priority use for such funding; other forces may be more likely to target funding towards drugs with the highest levels of use and lethality. Owing to tight budgetary constraints the National Police Chiefs’ Council is not able to provide targeted funding for the purposes of field testing for street drugs such as synthetic cathinones.

The Government recognises the need for effective equipment for the field testing of seized drugs, and the importance which the police place on this. The Home Office is participating alongside the police, forensic services providers and academia in a working group led by the Office of the Forensic Science Regulator to review and improve quality standards for field testing devices.

I have, though, sought assurance that there are funding opportunities available for this type of activity. Such opportunities could, subject to precise scope, include Home Office-owned or part-owned funds, such as the UK Defence Innovation Security Open Call. It could also include funds owned elsewhere in government such as from the National Institute for Health and care Research. UKRI funding could potentially cover this if bids were, amongst other things, primarily focused on reducing knife crime or improving confidence in policing.

Question 10

Recommendation 10

Accepted Answer

The ACMD recommendation:

“Research should be funded to study the appropriate management of stimulant use disorders including those associated with synthetic cathinones.”

The Government’s response:

The Government accepts this recommendation. DHSC has recently, through NIHR, commissioned research into psychosocial and pharmacological treatments for the use of stimulants. Even though not solely focused on synthetic cathinones, the outcomes of these studies can be applied to this group of stimulant drugs. DHSC will continue to work with NIHR to consider further studies.

The Addiction Healthcare Goals programme, led by the Office for Life Sciences (OLS), is delivering initiatives to enhance the UK-wide research environment and incentivise the development of innovative and effective new treatments, technologies, and approaches to support treatment and recovery. The goal is to reduce the harm illicit drug and alcohol addictions can cause.

Research into innovations to address addiction to synthetic cathinones is in scope for these initiatives. Current projects include a UK-wide research leadership development programme, and ongoing funding to support development of innovations for preventing overdose deaths (delivered through Scotland’s Chief Scientist Office) and enhancing treatment and recovery for opioid and cocaine addictions (delivered through NIHR).

In February 2026, OLS launched a new funding call, the £20 million Addiction Healthcare Goals – Catalysing Innovation Awards, delivered by Innovate UK, to fast-track the development and deployment-readiness of innovative pharmaceutical, MedTech and digital technologies for tackling drug and alcohol addiction healthcare challenges. Technology and medicines targeting addiction to synthetic cathinones are in scope for this call, which is due to announce awards in the Autumn.

Question 11

Recommendation 11

Accepted Answer

The ACMD recommendation:

“Research should be undertaken to compare the pharmacology and human health harms of individual cathinones that are currently prevalent in the UK.”

The Government’s response:

The Government accepts the principle of this recommendation. Working with NIHR and other partners, the Medical Research Council will continue to support high-quality applications in pharmacology and toxicology, including those relevant to the study of synthetic cathinones.

Question 12

Recommendation 12

Accepted Answer

The ACMD recommendation:

“Research should be funded to better understand the reasons for the high prevalence of use of pyrrolidino-cathinones in North Staffordshire and its environs.”

The Government’s response:

The Government notes this recommendation. As the report notes, this is a matter for local authorities and police forces in these areas. The Government will make sure that they are aware of this recommendation, so that they can consider whether they wish to fund such research.

Question 13

Recommendation 13

Accepted Answer

The ACMD recommendation:

“In the event of changes being made to the legal status of synthetic cathinones, research should be funded to examine the impact of these changes on their availability and on health and social harms associated with these and related compounds in the UK.”

The Government’s response:

We are not proposing to make changes to the legal status of synthetic cathinones. As such, this recommendation does not need to be considered.

Question 14

Recommendation 14

Accepted Answer

The ACMD recommendation:

“Government should discuss developing a closer working relationship with the European Union Drugs Agency to facilitate better sharing of information about illicit substances in circulation in the EU and UK.”

The Government’s response:

The Government accepts this recommendation, and work on this is complete. The UK and the European Union Drugs Agency (EUDA) signed a Working Arrangement on 13 July 2026, establishing a formal framework for reciprocal information exchange on newly detected substances, emerging drug threats and high-risk drugs in circulation across the UK and Europe.^{[footnote 6]}

This delivers on the commitment set out in the Common Understanding between the UK and the European Commission following the United Kingdom-European Union Summit of 19 May 2025.^{[footnote 7]}

The arrangement will support the timely sharing of alerts, intelligence and expertise, enhancing the UK’s ability to identify and respond to emerging threats, including synthetic opioids and other novel substances. It also provides a foundation for joint analysis of drug risks and trends, helping to better inform law enforcement, public health and policy responses.

A joint UK-EUDA work programme is currently being developed to operationalise the agreement and set out practical mechanisms for information sharing and collaboration.

As always, I am grateful for the work of the ACMD in supporting the Government’s aims to protect the public from the harmful consequences of drug diversion and misuse, as part of the wider mission to keep our streets safe. Home Office officials will continue to work closely across government to implement the recommendations agreed in this letter and I look forward to seeing the delivery of these measures in due course.

Very best wishes,

Sarah Jones MP

Minister for Policing and Crime

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