CHARITIES have called for Scotland to have the power to decriminalise cannabis.
As Westminster Government partners fall out over the UK's long-standing policy of prohibition, the Scottish Council of Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) is lobbying for drug laws to be devolved.
The umbrella group has formally asked the all-party Smith Commission, which is working on new Home Rule proposals, to move control of the Misuse Of Drugs Act north of the Border.
Charities backing the move include Addaction, one of the biggest bodies supporting addicts in the UK.
Ruchir Shah, SCVO's policy manager, said: "Many voluntary organisations want Scotland to have powers over the control of illegal drugs. Tackling substance abuse could then be tailored more closely to Scotland's particular challenges and needs.
"Some of SCVO's member charities have raised concerns the current approach tries to criminalise people. They would prefer to see policies coming from a health, care and community approach."
Such an approach could see Scotland move to a more liberal regime within the UK - mirroring America. There, different states take very different attitudes to drugs, with two having legalised cannabis and several other decriminalising the substance.
Several senior drugs policy experts north of the border now question Westminster rhetoric on the issue.
SNP MSP Christine Grahame, who chairs the Scottish Parliament's Justice Committee, welcomed any move to bring drugs laws to Holyrood, saying this would provide more "cohesive" policy-making.
"If we are going to tackle drug issues we need the full range of powers. In many cases we would endeavour to be compatible with the rest of the UK - especially in terms of enforcement - but that does not mean we can't lead the way, as with the ban on smoking in public places."
Ms Grahame was not calling for specific proposals but said she would welcome discussion. She said: "I am not an expert and would want to speak to people who are before making up my mind. But I think that it would be worth having a debate on decriminalising cannabis."
Liberal Democrat Home Office minister Norman Baker resigned from the UK Government on Monday after accusing the Conservatives of being "soft on drugs" by ducking decriminalisation. "They are the ones who allow the process to go on whereby drug dealers continue to make money and people continue to get fined and carry on taking drugs, " he said.
Scottish Conservatives, however, refused to rule out devolving drugs laws as they engage with Lord Smith's group. A spokesman said: "We went into the Smith Commission talks with an open mind, and continue to have that approach. We are happy to discuss any proposals that come before it and look forward to continuing the negotiations."
Labour MSP Graeme Pearson raised concerns over the growing scourge of high-strength cannabis when he was director of the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency. Yesterday he questioned any move to devolve drugs laws, although he said he was open to persuasion as the Smith Commission debates powers.
He said: "The misuse of drugs and the culture that lies behind it is nationwide and indeed international. It seems to be difficult to see how the law could work one way in England and a completely different way in Scotland."
Scotland already has responsibility for enforcing current laws and treating and supporting the country's estimated 60,000 problem drug users.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article