§ 14. Miss Quennellasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what special studies his Department has made into the source or origin of supplies of illicit hard and soft drugs.
§ Mr. CallaghanKnowledge of the source of origin of illicit drugs is con 1494 stantly being assembled, in particular through information obtained from the enforcement agencies both here and overseas.
§ Miss QuennellIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that magistrates and others concerned with the drug addiction that is spreading in this country are perturbed at the large amounts of drugs that apparently are available? Surely, it would be much wiser to try to stop the influx of drugs at the sources at which they enter the country than to chase them around when they are in the country.
§ Mr. CallaghanThis will be true of cannabis, and the Customs and Excise does its best about it. As regards manufactured drugs, it is the view of my experts in the Home Office that most of those which are illicitly circulated were licitly manufactured in the United Kingdom. Although it is sometimes easy to identify the actual manufacturer, the point of diversion into the illicit market is much more difficult to identify, but we are using all the resources of the police that we can to keep track of this.