The proposal was almost immediately blocked by the Conservative UK government in London, which said it had “no plans” to soften drug laws
Release date – Saturday, July 23 at 10:50pm
London: The Scottish government is proposing to decriminalize all drugs for personal use in a bid to tackle one of the highest overdose death rates in Europe.
The proposal was almost immediately rejected by the Conservative UK government in London, which said it had “no plans” to relax drug laws.
The semi-autonomous Edinburgh government, led by the pro-independence Scottish National Party, said on Friday that removing criminal penalties for drug possession would “allow safe, evidence-based harm reduction services to be delivered”.
Scotland’s death rate from drug overdose is three times that of the whole of the UK and the highest in Western Europe. Nearly 1,100 drug-related deaths occurred in Scotland, with a population of 5.5 million, last year, according to government figures.
“The war on drugs has been lost,” Scotland’s anti-narcotics minister Elena Whitham told a news conference alongside former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark and ex-Swiss president Ruth Dreyfuss, both anti-narcotics Advocate for legal reform.
“Our current drug laws don’t stop people from using drugs, they don’t stop people from being harmed, and more importantly, they don’t stop people from dying,” Whitham said.
The Scottish government said decriminalization would free “individuals from their fear of accessing treatment and support, reduce drug-related harm and ultimately improve lives.” It cited the example of Portugal, which abandoned criminal penalties for drug possession and focus on treatment.
Whitham said the government also wanted to change the law to allow for a supervised drug consumption chamber and consider introducing a regulated drug supply.
She said the crisis would worsen without sweeping changes. Scotland “is facing a storm of synthetic opioids and new street benzodiazepines flooding our shores,” she said. “If we are not prepared for this situation, 21st century drug laws are in place, and I’m sorry Scared of what that would be like,” she said.
But Scottish Conservative justice spokesman Russell Findlay said “essentially legalizing heroin, crack and other class A drugs” would not solve the problem of drug deaths in Scotland.
Scotland already allows police warnings rather than prosecutions for people caught with illegal drugs, but drug decriminalization needs the support of the British government.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s spokesman, Max Blain, said that would not happen.
“We have no plans to change our hard line on drugs,” he said.
The Scottish government tends to take a more liberal stance on social issues than the Conservative government in London. Last year, the Scottish Parliament passed a law making it easier for people to formally change their gender, but Sunak’s government blocked it.
The ruling Scottish National Party has used the divisions to bolster its view that Scotland would be better off leaving the UK and becoming an independent country.
