Faced with an uncooperative Westminster, Scottish law makers have announced that all drugs, including class A drugs, can now be dealt with by using a recorded warning by the Police.
The the new measures come from the Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain, the chief legal officer of the Scottish Government and the Crown in Scotland, who says:
“I have decided that an extension of the Recorded Police Warning Guidelines to include possession of offences for Class A drugs is appropriate…
“…Police officers may therefore choose to issue a Recorded Police Warning for simple possession offences for all classes of drugs.”
Scotland’s drug mortality rate is 50 times that of Portugal, and our bought-and-paid-for politicians still cannot pull their collective finger out.
The now dreadful situation has deteriorated to the point where Scotland has become the drug death capital of Europe, with over 1,339 people dying in connection with drugs in 2020. A 5% increase on the previous year.
Pivotal moment
This is a pivotal moment in the history of Scottish drug policy. Scotland is literally rejecting Westminster’s drug war agenda, and should be applauded.
These changes mark the beginning of a shift towards harm reduction which should have started many years ago.
Part of the ongoing problem is that senior government officials literally don’t want to see the facts. They’d rather run away.
Recently faced with compelling evidence in the form of speakers from Portugal, our political representatives actually left the room! Is there a more blatant signal of having your head buried deep in the sand?
How many more times must our self interested political elite be told unequivocally that incarcerating people is not a solution to the complex problem of addiction?
It is deplorable and concerning that the professed representatives of the people are more concerned with the enforcement of inefficient and brutal methods of drug policy than they are with the preservation of human life itself.
Leadership from the front line
But now there is hope, thanks to the actions of Doroth Bain.
So this appears to be a significant step in the right direction for those wanting to see harms from drugs reduced. And it’s not only happening in Scotland.
There are also others forward thinking leaders trying to help by taking compassionate action but of course, they are not politicians.
We asked Arfon Jones, the ex-Police Commissioner of England and Wales what he thought about the recent developments:
“This has been happening in some forces in the form of diversion…North Wales, Durham, West Mids and TVP, but its good to see the Chief Legal Officer for Scotland doing this for the whole country and it could be done in England and Wales rather than individual PCC’s doing it in a post code lottery.
“This opens the doors to legal officers writing letters of comfort indemnifying drug services from prosecution for opening safer injecting rooms.”
If you are unaware of the life saving work of Peter Krykant, you might want to learn what he has been doing to help drug users in Scotland. Here is a man who has put his own neck on the line to save lives.
A recovering addict himself, Peter started his own Overdose Protection Service van, without state approval. It is still going, despite Peter being hassled by the police.
These new changes in law should mean that Peter’s service in Scotland can continue without interference from law enforcement. Only time will tell.
So isn’t it about time Cannabis was completely legal now?
As you may be aware, many countries have stopped the insanity of cannabis prohibition over the last few years, all with good outcomes.
The UK continues its backwards, unscientific prevention of a highly beneficial herbal medicine as if nothing else is going on around the world.
Uninformed and frankly, misleading statements from people such as Cressida Dick are the order of the day:
“My concern is, I’m not a health professional, but you see what is happening with skunk and some of the damage done to people with mental health issues, is absolutely huge.”
This Harvard study does not support Dick’s statement. Mercifully, she is not a health professional championing this perspective.
Where is the evidence that there are now massive mental health problems in the United States where cannabis is legal? There are none.
The position is a scientifically illiterate pontification that belongs in the dark ages. If this half baked theory is correct, the United States and Canada would indeed be overrun by psychotic cannabis users by this time. They are not.
Any rational person who takes the time to carefully review data from around the world would learn that cannabis legalisation has a plethora of positive impacts including reduced crime rates and effective pain relief for so many that just cannot be matched by pharmaceuticals.
Expecting Westminster to implement any significant drug policy changes in this area is certainly naïve, especially given their recent response to an indepent review of drugs. Pure bilge.
Is now the time for Chief Constables of the United Kingdom to step up to the plate and implement compassionate and progressive drug policies?
Our political ‘leaders’ have repeatedly demonstrated that they are simply just not up to the task. It’s time for real leaders to take charge. Lives are at stake.
