Nobody wants us to be softer on drugs

NOWHERE is the gulf between what the public want and what is being delivered greater than in justice.

Under an SNP forever beholden to the latest trendy notion, the rights of criminals are centre-stage, while those of victims are forgotten.

Latest beneficiaries of this soft-touch approach are addicts. The white flag in the war on drugs may not be flying just yet, but the direction of travel is ominously clear.

Despite drugs being illegal, the head of Police Scotland’s Safer Communities department says drug use is primarily a health matter.

Chief Superintendent John McKenzie wants an end to the ‘stigma’ of drug use. That will strike a chord with ineffectual Justice Minister Michael Matheson, on whose watch even ‘offender’ has become taboo lest – yes – the ‘stigma’ of the word should upset the guilty.

With plans for a Scottish ‘shooting gallery’ for addicts (who will no doubt have to be referred to as ‘stakeholders’) in motion, the public are entitled to ask what is going on. Apart from addicts and dealers, the only people taking comfort from all this are those who favour outright legalisation of drugs.

The talk is of ‘reducing the harm’ caused by drugs but simply abrogating responsibility for this thorny issue is no answer. The public know only too well how drugs blight – and often end – individual lives, and the damage they do to families and entire communities.

Is it really the case that the public are clamouring to toe the trendy line by providing amenities for addicts to inject?

Do they want drug abuse facilitated, even normalised, by removing the threat of legal action? Or is it that politicians are forcing through their modish agenda with no regard for either the consequences or for what the public think?