Police chief: I expect courts to hammer drug dealers

Amid SNP ‘soft justice’ and record death toll, a powerful intervention:

TOUGH jail sentences are needed to crack down on dealers stoking high levels of drug deaths, Scotland’s top police officer has said.

Sir Iain Livingstone backed ‘heavy’ jail terms ahead of figures to be published today on drug-related fatalities – currently the highest in Europe.

Ministers have backed plans for heroin shooting galleries where addicts can inject under medical supervision, but the move would breach current legislation.

Prosecutors were criticised last year for giving the green light to Recorded Police Warnings (RPWs) for people caught with Class A drugs, in a bid to divert them from the criminal justice system.

Speaking to the Scottish Daily Mail, Sir Iain said Police Scotland’s get tough policy on dealers must be backed by ‘heavy’ prison sentences for gangsters.

He said: ‘The issue round about drug deaths is very complex. But I will tell you what I’m absolutely committed to – I will continue to target organised crime bringing in large quantities of drugs.

‘For those who deal in drugs, we will give the full force of the law – and I would expect the courts to hand them heavy sentences in that regard. For people who have addiction problems, a criminal justice sanction is not necessarily the right thing that’s going to assist them.

‘What I’m trying to encourage is that if someone does come into contact with police through their addiction that there’s support to help them.

‘We will not tolerate people who sell and supply drugs in the communities of Scotland – often to the most vulnerable people.’

Today, the National Records of Scotland will publish the official number of drug-related deaths recorded in Scotland in 2021.

A year ago, they showed 1,339 people died from substance misuse in 2020 – a new record. It meant Scotland’s drug-deaths rate was 4.9 times higher than that of England and Wales. Scottish Tory health spokesman Dr Sandesh Gulhane said: ‘The number of fatalities has risen yearon year on Nicola Sturgeon’s watch, to last year’s appalling record high of 1,339.

‘These figures mean Scotland has not just the worst death rate per head of population in Europe, but the worst by such an enormous margin that it’s hard to get your head around.

‘We desperately need to see a substantial reduction in the number of fatalities when the 2021 figures are announced.’

Last night, Scottish Labour drugs spokesman Claire Baker said: ‘These tragic deaths are devastating families, with hundreds of children having lost a parent and many more people having lost a loved one. Every

‘Continue to target organised crime’

single drug-related death is preventable and each is a tragedy.’

Justice Secretary Keith Brown said: ‘The way to be tough on drugs is to make sure you’re present in those areas where drugs are circulating – and the police are doing that.

‘And I think it’s been evidenced that the right disposals can also help with a reduction in the people who are taking drugs, even hard drugs like heroin.

‘The approach we have got just now is right – but there are things that we have to do to improve the situation with people who are locked in that cycle.’