News Scottish government wants drug possession to be legal

[hbwr]

Scottish government wants drug possession to be legal​

BBC.com
By:Andrew Kerr

Excerpts:

It wants the UK government to change the laws to allow people to be "treated and supported rather than criminalised and excluded".
However it would still be an offence to have possession of drugs with the intention of supplying them to others.
The government also wants the law to be changed to allow the introduction of supervised drug consumption facilities.
Drugs laws are currently reserved to Westminster.
However, the Scottish government has responsibility for health and social policies around drug consumption.

Other proposals from the Scottish government include more substance checking services and increased access to emergency treatments for drug overdoses.

A Home Office spokesperson said: "Illegal drugs destroy lives and devastate communities. We are committed to preventing drug use by supporting people through treatment and recovery and tackling the supply of illegal drugs, as set out in our 10-year drugs strategy. "We have no plans to decriminalise drugs given the associated harms, including the risks posed by organised criminals, who will use any opportunity to operate an exploitative and violent business model."