The SNP have expanded their policy of “effective decriminalisation” to Class A drugs despite police seizing a record amount of heroin.
New statistics show that police retrieved over 200kg of heroin in 2019-20, higher than in any previous year.
The number of people caught in possession of Class B and C drugs has also increased since the SNP introduced a policy of effective decriminalisation for those drugs in 2016-17.
That included the seizure of almost five million benzodiazepine tablets, which were implicated in almost three-quarters of Scotland’s record drug deaths last year.
The SNP’s latest plan means that those in possession of drugs such as heroin, crack cocaine and crystal meth are let off with a written warning.
The Scottish Conservatives have warned that extending this de-facto decriminalisation of drugs to Class As could see a further increase in the numbers possessing dangerous drugs such as heroin.
Scottish Conservative Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Justice, Jamie Greene MSP, said: “It is clear from these figures that Scotland’s streets and communities are awash with drugs.
“Unprecedented volumes of drugs are finding their way onto Scotland’s streets through organised crime gangs, and our hardworking police officers are overstretched trying to deal with the scale of this crisis.
“Yet, the SNP’s latest policy is to effectively decriminalise possession of even harder drugs. This could lead to even more of the very worst drugs blighting more and more communities.
“The SNP should drop this dangerous approach and back our plans for a Right to Recovery Bill, to enshrine in law an access to treatment for all those who are dealing with addiction, and truly tackle the drugs deaths crisis.”
Notes
Police Scotland seized record amounts of heroin in 2019-20. Police Scotland seized 222.5kg worth of heroin in 2019-20 – higher than any of the previous years given in the dataset. (Scottish Government, Drug Seizures and Offender Characteristics, 23 November 2021, Table 1b, link).
Police Scotland seized a record 5 million tablets worth of benzos in 2019-20. Police Scotland seized 4,929,100 tablets of benzodiazepines in 2019-20 – more than double the previous high recorded in the dataset. Benzodiazepines were implicated in 73% of all drug deaths in Scotland in 2020. (Scottish Government, Drug Seizures and Offender Characteristics, 23 November 2021, Table 3b, link; NRS, Drug-related deaths in Scotland in 2020, 30 July 2021, link).
The SNP’s effective decriminalisation of class A drugs will mean thousands get away with drug use. In 2019-20, it is estimated that of the 30,469 crimes of drug possession recorded, 7,000 were for possession of class A drugs. The SNP Government recently allowed those caught with class A drugs to be given just a Recorded Police Warning – meaning they will not be prosecuted. (Scottish Government, Drug Seizures and Offender Characteristics, 23 November 2021, Table 4b, link; Official Report, 22 September 2021, link).
Since the SNP introduced effective decriminalisation of class B and C drugs in 2016-17, the number of people caught possessing those drugs has gone up. In 2016-17, the Recorded Police Warning scheme was introduced for class B and C drugs. In 2016-17, 21,300 people were caught possessing class B and C drugs according to these figures. In 2019-20, the latest year we have data for, 22,900 people were caught possessing class B and C drugs – a 1,600 increase since the introduction of the Recorded Police Warning Scheme. (Scottish Government, Drug Seizures and Offender Characteristics, 23 November 2021, Table 4b, link; Official Report, 22 September 2021, link).