If it’s really a war on drugs we’re losing it
Lib Dems call for sentence reform and focus on treatment for users after shock statistics
Drug users are seven times more likely to be jailed than given treatment when they appear in court.
Of a total 4394 convictions for possession for personal use in 2016-17, 229 people were sent to jail while just 31 were placed on a treatment and testing order.
Scottish Liberal Democrat justice spokesperson Liam McArthur MSP has called for drug sentencing reform on the back of the shocking statistics.
He said: “Locking people up for the possession of drugs for personal use is a losing battle.
“It’s ridiculous to think that prison will help them to get clean and get on in life, when all the evidence suggests that it exacerbates the problem.
“Prison is the last place vulnerable people struggling with addiction should be.”
The cour t f igures were released after a parliamentary question from the Lib Dems.
Research by the Scottish Public Health Observatory has also found that 30 per cent of people leaving jail tested positive for illegal drugs.
The figure increased to 50 per cent for those leaving HMP Addiewell in West Lothian.
The Lib Dems want drug use to be treated as a health issue rather than a crime.
McArthur added: “Research previously found that half of those leaving Addiewell tested positive for illegal drugs.
“It would make sense to end the use of imprisonment for people who are found in possession of small amounts of drugs for personal use. It should instead be treated as a health issue, with people diverted into undertaking mandatory education or treatment.
“It is more ef fective in rehabilitating people and costs a fraction of the £ 37,000 a year a prison place costs. Of course, drug dealers should continue to face up to life in prison.
“With drug-related deaths at a record high, it is time for the Scottish and UK Governments to recognise the ‘war on drugs’ is a failure. It’s time to rebuild the system from the ground up.”
The number of treatment and testing orders handed out for possession offences is the lowest in five years and fewer than half of the 63 issued in 2011/12, when of 4609 convictions 224 people were imprisoned.
The Scottish Government said sentencing is a matter for the courts but added: “We have ensured the courts have a range of sentencing options, and that includes not only drug treatment and testing orders but more commonly used community payback orders (CPOs).
“As identi f ied in a 2015 independent evaluation of CPOs, addiction needs are often addressed under the offender supervision requirement of such sentences.”
They highlighted plans to extend the presumption against short custodial sentences from three months to a year, to reduce “inef fect ive” shor t- term imprisonment and increase community sentences.