Scottish Police Call for Review of Britain's 'Ineffective and Outdated' Drug Laws

At its annual conference last week, the Scottish Police Federation called for a review of Britain's 'ineffective and outdated' Misuse of Drugs Act.

It was unanimously agreed to petition Westminster by calling for a Royal Commission to examine the effectiveness of the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act and the impact of drug misuse in all communities.

In recent years police officers across the country have expressed concerns that the existing Misuse of Drugs Act, passed more than 30 years ago, is no longer relevant to current drug problems. Under the Act, Britain has some of the harshest penalties for drug offences in Europe, but it continues to record some of the highest levels of drug use, and more people are currently suffering and dying from drug problems or in prison on drug-related charges than ever before.

According to a Scottish Police Federation spokesman, the call for an urgent review has been made in response to growing recognition that current drug legislation is not only outdated, but also dangerous and harmful to all drugs users as it focuses on incarceration rather than treatment of small-time offenders, thereby granting the monopoly of drug supply to high-ranking criminals.

The latest figures reveal that in Scotland, drug dealing arrests have risen 17 percent in the past two years and that rural Scotland has become increasingly plagued by drugs. Rural drug crime has risen by 25 percent, with still steeper rises across the highlands and islands, where the amount of reported dealing soared by 35 percent.