End the stigma of drugs, police chief tells MSPs
SCOTLAND’S drug problem should be treated as a ‘health issue’, a top police officer has said.
The head of Police Scotland’s Safer Communities department has sparked new fears over decriminalisation in a controversial report to MSPs.
Last night, experts said the comments from Chief Superintendent John McKenzie were ‘regrettable’ and warned they would play into the hands of those who want drugs fully legalised.
A move to treat addicts as patients rather than criminals was backed at last year’s SNP conference, where members agreed to lobby the UK Government for powers to relax laws.
But critics say officers are trying to rid themselves of the responsibility of drugs policing.
In a report to Holyrood’s health committee, Mr McKenzie calls for an end to the ‘stigma’ of drug abuse. He states: ‘By raising awareness of stigma and the negative impacts of stigmatising attitudes, we can influence behaviour and create an inclusive environment that recognises drug use as primarily a health issue.’
Mr McKenzie said Police Scotland supports a number of moves to tackle addiction, including educating teenagers and working with other organisations.
He gave his written response ahead of giving evidence to MSPs today. A total of 867 people in Scotland died after using illegal or prescription drugs in 2016, more than double the 421 recorded in 2006.
Dr Neil McKeganey, director of the Centre for Substance Use Research, in Glasgow, said the health issue label was ‘inaccurate and unwelcome’.
He added: ‘Drug use is as much a police issue as a health issue, as an educational issue. All of these sectors have an equally important role to play when it comes to tackling a drug problem in Scotland that is virtually unequalled anywhere in Europe.’
Concern has grown over the direction of illegal drugs policy after health chiefs launched plans for the UK’s first safe injecting facility for addicts in Glasgow. The Lord Advocate has effectively blocked plans to allow addicts to bring in their own supplies of illegal drugs, but Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership is pushing ahead with plans whereby addicts are prescribed medical grade heroin.
Scottish Conservative public health spokesman Annie Wells said: ‘People whose lives have been destroyed by drugs, and the waves of crime drugs bring to some communities, would prefer to see Police Scotland taking a tough stance.’
But Scottish Lib Dem health spokesman Alex Cole-Hamilton said evidence suggested that drug misuse was a health issue.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘From April 2016, the responsibility for drugs policy transferred from the justice to health portfolios, ensuring that problem drug use is viewed through a public health lens and treated in such a way.’
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