Sniffer dogs may be brought into Westminster in an attempt to investigate drug use in the Houses of Parliament. Parliamentarians are studying the issue after traces of cocaine were found in 11 to 12 sites controlled for taking illicit class A substances (hard drugs). A bathroom near the offices of Boris Johnson and Priti Patel, Secretary of State for the Interior, is among the places discovered by the Sunday Times, report it Daily Mail.
House of Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle said he would notify police after the discovery in the building’s washroom as well as in the Portcullis House, an office building next door, where several MPs have their offices. Curator Charles Walker told the Sunday Times : “The Chamber of Deputies has already used sniffer dogs to detect explosives. We might need to broaden their scope to detect drugs as well.“The places searched are only accessible by parliamentarians or by authorized and accompanied visitors.
Drugs, a taboo subject in politics. In Britain, anonymous sources told the Sunday Times that politicians took at parties. In 2007, Johnson admitted to journalist Piers Morgan to have tried cocaine at a college party, saying it had no effect on him. He also said he smoked cannabis before starting his studies.
These findings coincide with Boris Johnson’s Dec. 6, 2021 statements about hard drug users: “I don’t want to fall for clichés but I am talking about illegal drugs. These people think that it is not a crime to consume it because it does not cause victims. But it’s wrong. The country is literally a victim of it. We are going to think about new means of penalization. Things that can have consequences on their daily life such as confiscating passports or driving licenses. “A strong speech, far from the mistakes of the head of the government of the United Kingdom, between quotation of Peppa Pig, scandal of corruption in his party or catastrophic COP26.