THE Scottish Conservatives' public health spokeswoman Annie Wells has said she would consider the decriminalisation of possession of drugs for personal use.
The MSP has spoken out after telling Boris Johnson in a letter that tackling the drug death crisis should be his top priority in Scotland.
It comes after figures showed Scotland had one of the worst drug-death rates in the world last year, with 1,187 fatalities, an increase of 27 per cent on 2017.
Ms Wells urged the Prime Minister to stage a summit in Glasgow "as soon as possible", with both the UK and Scottish governments putting their constitutional differences aside.
She said it would be "starting point" for the two administrations to work better together on providing better drug treatment and rehabilitation.
READ MORE: Public health emergency declaration call over Scotland's drugs deaths crisis
The UK Government announced in October that it would stage the summit before Christmas, but it was postponed thanks to the snap general election.
The Scottish government wants drug policy powers handed to them so it can make policy to treat the issue as a public health, and not judicial, matter.
Asked whether she backed measures including decriminalisation Ms Wells said a "full, evidence-based approach" should be taken. "I am open to listening to what these issues and concerns can be", she added.
She added: "We do need to look radically at this and I will be open to whatever comes my way and I will look at it all as an evidence-based approach.
"If that seems to be the right way then that is something we will have to look at in greater detail and urge the Scottish government and UK government to do the same."
The Scottish Affairs Committee has called for the creation of "safe consumption" rooms - places where people can use drugs with sterile equipment while being supervised by medical staff - as part of a raft of "urgent and radical steps" to address the problem.
The group of MPs said the possession of drugs for personal use should be decriminalised and suggested devolving powers over drugs legislation to the Scottish Parliament, so that it can "implement the health approach it deems to be in Scotland’s best interests."
When asked by the committee chairman Pete Wishart whether she would back the recommendations made by the committee, she said: "I'll back getting around the same table so we can discuss the recommendations and see where we agree.
"I'll also continue to argue the fastest way we can save lives is by improving drug treatment and rehab services. I'd like to think everyone can agree with that, no?"
She added:"I don't want to start ruling things out left and right before there's a date for the summit.
"But before considering radical options, the example of Portugal shows we need to improve treatment and rehab services first..."
Ms Wells said in her letter to the Prime Minister: “The drug deaths summit must happen as soon as possible.
“Both of Scotland’s governments need to put this at the top of their agenda.
“I lost a neighbour, across Scotland we lost 1,187 people in 2018, and I heard from so many families who lost loved ones in 2019.
“So I’ve asked the Prime Minister to make the drug deaths crisis his top priority in Scotland.
“This year we should be focused on saving lives instead of getting caught up in politics and the usual constitutional blame game.
“The drug deaths summit can be the starting point for Scotland’s governments to work better together and for a renewed focus on improving treatment and rehabilitation services.”
A spokeswoman for the Home Office said: "The number of drug deaths across the UK is extremely concerning, in particular the figures for Scotland, and every death is a tragedy.
"We will continue to work with the Scottish Government to tackle drug-misuse and harm and sustain our support for programmes which reduce the health-related harms of drugs, such widening the availability of naloxone to prevent overdose deaths."
A Scottish Government spokesman said: "We are working with Glasgow to arrange a summit on drug deaths for early 2020 which will be hosted by the Minister for Public Health, Sport and Wellbeing.
"We've repeatedly invited the UK Government to attend and have been extremely disappointed that they have, to date, refused to attend.
READ MORE: Tory MSP urges Boris Johnson to take action on Scotland's drugs death crisis
"We firmly believe the outdated Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 should be amended to allow us to implement a range of public health focused responses. We have called on the UK Government to amend the Act or to devolve those powers to Scotland, and this must be part of any discussion we have.
"We have taken a range of actions to address the public health emergency Scotland faces in terms of drug-related deaths.
"This includes setting up a dedicated drug deaths taskforce to inform steps to reduce the harms caused by drugs and advise on further changes in practice, or in the law, which could help save lives."
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