Mansfield MP wants faster action on spice and mamba reclassification

Town centres like Mansfield and Sutton were blighted by use of Mamba and spice throughout summer 2018, with dozens of residents reporting seeing users passed out on kerbs and causing anti-social behaviour.

Nottinghamshire Police set up a task force at the time to clamp down on drug use in the town, working with charities such as Framework to support people using the drug who were often homeless or vulnerable.

However, due to the drug being graded as a Class B substance, similar to cannabis, it meant the police had little enforcement powers when it came to arrests as a result of anti-social behaviour on our high street.

Calls came to reclassify the substance as a Class A drug, with the current Class B grading viewed as too “lenient”, while the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs [ACMD] said it would review the substance.

Mansfield’s MP Ben Bradley was a champion of the reclassification calls last year, calling for tougher action and greater police powers during two separate debates in Parliament.

He says delays to the ACMD’s report are not “good enough” and has written a letter calling for tougher, quicker action – despite a visual reduction of the drug in Mansfield.

He said: “There have been endless delays from the ACMD’s review of Mamba and Spice. It has now been more than a year that we have been waiting for a response, and it really isn’t good enough.

“The problem hasn’t gone away and I know that my constituents in Mansfield and Warsop are still concerned about this issue.

“I don’t understand why these drugs are only classified as Class B when they have such a huge impact on communities and people’s health.

“It’s vital that we give our police the powers to deal with users in our high streets, and create a larger deterrent for dealers.

“I am hopeful that the policing minister will be able to back my campaign and help me finally get an answer from the ACMD.”