AS Justice Secretary I watched UK drugs policy flounder. Enshrined by a British Government in the 1970s, it failed to cope with the challenges faced by Scotland in the 21st century. Individuals with an addiction were continually locked up, communities were damaged by the harm they caused, and serious organised crime profited from the misery they peddled.
Efforts were made by the Scottish Government to mitigate harm through the Road to Recovery policy. It was the right thing to do but it simply sought to stem the tide of misery.
Warrants moved from being for drugs only to routinely being for drugs and a firearm. Enforcement by criminals went from a stab in the buttocks to the production and occasional discharge of a gun. Legitimate areas of the economy saw hard-working individuals undermined by serious organised crime, laundering the huge profits to be made from the drug trade.
It will only get worse as what happens in London and Liverpool will sooner or later arrive in Glasgow and beyond.
Some of that might be bearable if it was working, but it’s not.
Prisons continue to be the repository for those with an addiction. A significant minority resent or flout the legislation, bringing it into disrepute. Criminal justice is being used to try and solve what is primarily a health and social issue. Moreover, the legislation is entirely incapable of dealing with the new problem of so-called “legal highs”. If the law can’t cope with illegal drugs, how can it with legal ones?
Scotland has sought to go its own way in tackling the other great social ill of our time, alcohol abuse. Now is the time to do likewise with drugs. Powers need to be devolved and a commission needs to be established to look at radical alternatives, predicated more on prevention than punishment. There is no simple solution. In Portugal and the USA other methods are being tested such as decriminalisation of minor possession or legalisation of some drugs.
Addicts need treatment, not punishment. “Recreational” users need to be educated about the consequences and provided with alternative pursuits that are often unavailable or unaffordable in poorer areas. Law enforcement can then be freed up to tackle the gangsters, not the minions. There will still be laws and problems, but some progress too. The war on drugs has failed and it’s time for health and social solutions.
Kenny MacAskill's call for drug law reform rejected by Scottish Government
The National View: Kenny MacAskill is due applause for point out the war on drugs has failed
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