Getting drugs out of our prisons is a critically important issue, and it deserves a better treatment.

There’s no dispute that the drugs trade in prison fuels violence and self harm, nor that its impact spills over to families outside. Nor is there any dispute that the emergence of new types of drug have coincided with a crisis in prison resourcing to make those problems very much worse. No prison will achieve what it should if the alternative power structures, which drive the drugs trade hold sway.

So investing in measures to reduce the supply of drugs to prisoners has to be part of the solution.