BEFORE I became an MP, I spent a decade working in fraud, scams and financial crime. Whenever I say that out loud to someone, I normally find myself immediately clarifying that it was in counter-fraud, and that I wasn’t a criminal myself. I can feel a similar clarification coming on this week, given that I’ve spent much of it ‘on drugs’.

The Home Affairs Committee, which I am a member of, has launched a new enquiry into drugs - looking at everything from their impact on society, through to enforcement, international approaches, and the latest in scientific research.

It’s a big subject and - two evidence sessions in - I confess that some of my long-held views on drugs are being shaken. I’ve never used recreational drugs (with the exception of alcohol) and I have what is really a very simplistic view towards them as a result.

But dive into the research and spend some time with experts in the field, and you realise that drug related harms aren’t just felt by the end users that we see on TV programmes or read about in the paper, but extend to the young and vulnerable people employed by criminal gangs to make county lines drug gangs work, to those who enter prison drug free and leave addicted, and to the second and third world countries that are stuck with ingrained gang cultures who viciously defend the production of the raw materials that eventually end up for sale on our streets.

The system as it stands just isn’t working for anyone and is riddled with historic and cultural taboos that are barely defensible. A good example is medical cannabis - the law was changed specifically to allow this to be prescribeable (as a concentrated oil) for children suffering from severe epilepsy. The results can be staggering - one child went from almost 150 seizures a day to 0 with the medication, but yet only three paediatricians in the whole UK who are willing to prescribe the medicine. Cultural taboos are standing in the way of treatment.

The Misuse of Drugs Act was set up in 1971 with the aim of creating a drug-free society with very low drug harms, very low criminal justice impacts and little economic cost to society. Almost the opposite has occurred: drug use and drug deaths are up, and more people are in prison now than ever before on drug-related offences.

How to resolve this is the big question, and one that we will continue to explore over the coming weeks. We see many of the consequences of drug use here in our community, and I’d be interested to hear from those affected as to their views on what would improve the system before we report to Government.

Finally, it was wonderful to end the week with the launch of the Noras of Barrow exhibition, wonderfully created by BarrowFull. The project celebrates some of the fantastic - and iconic - women in our community through amazing collages on the walls of the town. Have a walk around the town centre and you’ll soon spot some of the fantastic images and be reminded of the wonderful people who make up our community.