THE Scottish Tories have called for a two-strikes and you’re out drug policy, with the “full force of the law” being thrown at repeat offenders.

The initiative was one of a raft of measures in the party’s new drug strategy, due to be published today.

Under their proposals people caught with a personal amount of drugs would be able to initially avoid a criminal record by choosing to “be referred to a Local Commission with powers to prescribe treatment if necessary”.

But if they’re caught again then the Tories said they should “be referred back into the criminal justice system”.

That is, however, a softening of the party’s approach towards drug users, and they have previously criticised Police Scotland for handing out warnings rather than prosecutions to people found with cannabis.

The strategy comes as drug related death rates soar to record levels. In 2017, 934 people in Scotland died from a drug related death. People working in the sector are worried that this year more than 1000 drug related deaths could be recorded.

The Tories urged the SNP Government to commit to halving the number of drug deaths in five years, and to increase the number of problem drug users accessing treatment from 40% to 60%.

They also called for an independent review of Scotland’s methadone programme, suggesting abstinence would be a better means of recovery for problem drug users.

Scottish Tory shadow health secretary Miles Briggs said: “Scotland is facing a drugs crisis. As many as 1000 Scots are expected to die from drug related deaths this year alone.

“Drugs wreck families, destroy lives and are holding back some of our poorest communities. The SNP Government’s efforts to reduce drug misuse have failed and the crisis is getting worse.”

He said users should be given a choice: “Take responsibility for yourself and your actions, and you get a second chance and avoid a criminal record. Offend again, and you can expect to feel the full force of the law.”

The Tories said their plan was based “on a simple premise” that “virtually every problem drug user can be brought off drugs and supported back to a functioning lifestyle”.

But David Liddell, the CEO of Scottish Drugs Forum suggested the reality was not that simple: “In Scotland we have a peculiarly parochial view of our problems; we need to see our problems as others see them.

“The quality of our treatment services is affected by the own goal we have created in Scotland by stigmatising evidence-based medicine.

“We therefore have a large number of people on sub-optimal doses of methadone forced to ‘top up’ with street drugs.

“This almost inevitably leads to fatal overdoses for some of these people. We need to integrate treatment services with the support people need for the real issues they face – physical and mental health and trauma, housing and homelessness and employment services.”

Danny Kushlick, from the Transform Drug Policy Foundation, said the Scottish Tories weren’t serious about drug policy: “Repeating like a mantra that most people who use drugs problematically can stop, is just deluded. In fact it is this push towards abstinence that has contributed to Scotland’s astronomical drug-related death rate.”

SNP MP Ronnie Cowan, who is the vice-chair of all-party parliamentary group on drug policy reform, said the Tories had “good intentions” but lacked “any bold ideas”. He said Briggs and colleagues needed to get on board with plans for a safe drugs consumption room (SDCR) in Glasgow.

“If they want to help they should start by asking their counterparts at Westminster to allow a SDCR to be established in Glasgow. Then we can engage with problematic users and reduce drug deaths. Establishing a SDCR is only one step but it would be a much needed positive action.”