The Scottish Government’s new general mantra: “We will now treat drug addiction/deaths as a public health issue rather than a criminal one.. .”, maybe a good soundbite for rallying the anti-prohibition/naive harm reduction troops—but that’s the extent of it.
Because it remains also, a criminal justice issue; this brought to the fore by the fact of the SG choosing to cover its obligations under the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act relating to personal possession of illicit drugs, by what it deems the proportionate criminal justice response of ‘diversion from criminal prosecution’ via Recorded Police Warnings (and personal-use stash confiscated by-the-way) rather than by direct criminal prosecution.
Yes, it IS ‘decriminalisation by the back door’—until we decriminalise by the front door.
This, of course, amounts to de facto (as if) decriminalisation; it is not de jure (in fact) decriminalisation—as Dorothy Bain, the current Scottish Lord Advocate, is at pains to emphasise—because the Scottish Government does not have the devolved power to actually change UK drug laws for Scottish consumption.
Does this difference matter? Not really, other than—in my opinion—giving naive, rigid-thinking, and disagreeing politicians something to ’cause a row about’.
Indeed, seems like Scotland is following the route of much worldwide eventual legislated drug decriminalisation, with de jure being practiced for some years before overt decrim. legislation; Portuguese experience—beloved of anti-prohibition warriors—being a prominent case in point.
Catch a Grip: realist multi-faceted intervention, rather than rhetoric, will most effectively address the drug addiction/deaths issue.
Catch a Grip 