The de facto decriminalisation of drugs
Scotland set to bypass UK laws and let off addicts with a slap on wrist
DRUG users caught with heroin are to be given warnings instead of being taken to court under radical plans by the SNP drugs taskforce.
The Scottish Government is considering the group’s proposals, which could see Scots avoid prosecution when caught carrying illegal drugs, including heroin, crack cocaine and cannabis.
The law is clear that possession of controlled drugs is an offence under the UK’s Misuse of Drugs Act. But a new report by the Drug Deaths Taskforce (DDTF) offers a plan that would allow Scotland to sidestep the regulations.
It has called on officers to consider letting drug users off with ‘soft-touch’ police warnings rather than arrests, which it says will allow for a ‘de facto decriminalisation’ of drugs.
The taskforce is also lobbying for ‘tolerance zones’ to be introduced across the country, where police will be restricted from enforcing drug laws for fear that stop-and-search tactics ‘stigmatise’ users.
Last night, drug addiction workers hit out at
‘The priorities of the taskforce appear to be completely skewed’
the plans. Annemarie Ward, head of charity Favor Scotland, said she ‘despaired’ of the taskforce, adding there seemed to be no effort to address how to help people get out of the cycle of addiction.
She said: ‘The DDTF should be concentrating on a law that gives people access to the services they are being blocked from getting and if they truly wanted to help stop the deaths they would be making sure we could access treatment instead of promoting legalisation and decriminalisation.’
Since it was set up in 2019, the taskforce – made up of academics, policy experts and people with experience of drug issues – has called for a ‘public health’ rather than criminal justice approach to tackling Scotland’s drug problems.
But it has been criticised for its ‘right-on’ approach. The biggest obstacle it has faced has been the Misuse of Drugs Act, which applies to all four nations of the United
Kingdom and prohibits the possession, supply, distribution and manufacture of illegal drugs.
Now, a document released by the taskforce has detailed ways in which Scotland could circumnavigate the law, so the SNP could push ahead with its radical drug plans.
It has said that, rather than arresting people caught with drugs, they should get a Recorded Police Warning (RPW). These are soft-touch reprimands for offences which police have decided are ‘low-level’ and do not need to be referred to the courts. The written notices, printed on pink slips of paper, are akin to a slap on the wrist and are not a legal finding of guilt.
They are handed out for minor vandalism, urinating in public, some breaches of the peace, theft and licensing offences.
Respondents to a DDTF survey said extending RPWs to cover controlled drugs would provide ‘an opportunity to remove the harm and stigma of criminalisation’ and ‘could lead to de facto decriminalisation’ of drugs.
The DDTF added it ‘would support consideration of the extension of RPWs in relation to drug possession offences to cover all classifications of drugs and concludes that there would be value in work by the Scottish Government, Police Scotland and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service to increase understanding of RPWs’.
Last night, Scottish Conservative health spokesman Annie Wells said: ‘The priorities of the Drug Deaths Taskforce appear to be completely skewed.
‘Talking up the prospect of decriminalising drugs is not the route to go down.
‘It simply won’t help people get off drugs and it will do nothing to clamp down on the organised crime gangs who are profiteering from Scotland’s drug crisis.’
The Scottish Government said it welcomed the report and would consider the recommendations.
The UK Home Office said it had no plans to decriminalise drug possession and said it was ‘very concerned’ at the rate of drug deaths in Scotland.