The drug-related death crisis is not only a Scottish problem but one for politicians across all four nations. If the government wants to save lives, it must reform our harmful laws, beginning with the Misuse of Drugs Act.
The Misuse of Drugs Act has largely been a failure, and the government knows it. Successive official reports have shown criminalisation does not deter use. And, despite spending £1.6 billion a year on drug law enforcement, this approach has “little impact on the availability” of drugs.
The negative effects of UK drug laws are well documented, particularly in the way that policing practices, such as “stop and search”, are racialised. In England and Wales, black people are nine times more likely to be stopped and searched for drugs than white people, and 12 times more likely to be prosecuted for cannabis possession, despite being less likely to use drugs. Deprived areas experience more intensive drugs policing, despite drug use being ubiquitous across the different socioeconomic groups.
Despite evidence that criminalisation doesn’t achieve a reduction in drug use and drug markets, the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act continues to stand as the unquestioned basis of UK drug policy for the two main parties in Westminster.
This is because the “war on drugs” was never about drugs. It was, and continues to be, about social control, particularly of poor and racialised communities that governments view as “problematic”. As author and law lecturer Kojo Koram writes, international drug control since the 19th century has been deeply intertwined with the European colonial project and the desire to control indigenous and colonised populations. It should come as no surprise then that domestic drug laws have a similar dynamic.
While legislative reform is not within the Scottish government’s gift, it does follow, as much a possible, the evidence of the 30-plus countries around the world that have ended criminal sanctions for possession of drugs. None experienced increased rates in drug use, many experienced better health and social outcomes, including lower rates of drug-related death – not solely because of the legal landscape, but also because they invested in evidence-based harm reduction, drug treatment and social welfare services.
The drug-related death crisis is not only a Scottish problem but one for politicians across all four nations. True decriminalisation of people who use drugs, the regulation of drug markets in a way that includes communities who rely on the illicit economy to survive, and broader economic and social reforms that address inequality would be elements of a truly new and evidence-based drug strategy. If the government wants to save lives, it must reform our harmful laws, beginning with the Misuse of Drugs Act.