INVERCLYDE MP Ronnie Cowan has attacked the UK’s drug laws, claiming the so-called war on drugs has created “despair and disharmony”.
Writing in a post on the RSA website, Cowan says it’s time to stop thinking of drug users as criminal but rather treat narcotics use as a health issue.
Cowan’s comments came ahead of a meeting in the House of Commons tonight between politicians, drugs campaigners and senior public health specialists.
“While we continue to persecute and punish, we create despair and disharmony. People are criminalised and lives are destroyed,” he wrote. “The alternative, which would require a monumental change of attitude as much as anything, can heal and rebuild.
“The burden on the NHS and law enforcement would reduce. The money saved could be invested in treatment, rehabilitation and harm reduction services.
“The real criminals would be driven out of business and communities would no longer live in fear.
“But to start the process we first have to stop labelling people as junkies, crack-heads and stoners.”
Drugs policy is reserved to Westminster, and there is little appetite to make the changes suggested by Cowan and other advocates of drug reform. When putting together their five year drug strategy last year, the Government did not run a consultation, but rather worked on a refresh on what already existed, insisting their approach was working. The Scottish Government has previously said it would not change the laws if the powers were devolved.
Scottish drug deaths increased last year, and are expected to rise again when this year’s statistics are released in next month.
Last year there were 706 drug deaths, which works out at 133 drug deaths per million people in Scotland.
In Portugal, where drugs were decriminalised in 2001, the figure was just three deaths per million.
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