Indopedia All Things Marijuana
Delegates of the nationalist and social-democratic Scottish National Party have voted for a motion to grant Scotland the legal power to decriminalize drug use. Scotland currently has policing and prosecution powers over drug offenses, but drug policy in the whole of the United Kingdom is controlled by the Misuse of Drugs Act. The motion calls for the U.K. to grant the Scottish Parliament the power to create its own drug laws, so that it may consider “all options for harm reduction, including drug declassification, decriminalization and regulation.”
The motion does not immediately call for a change to the country’s drug policy, but would have officials conduct a “comprehensive review of policy” focusing on “substance misuse as a public health issue rather than a criminal matter.” The motion would have the country’s legislators work towards the goal of “lifting the stigma associated with addiction; remove barriers between police and communities and allow policy to reflect the values of our progressive society.”
The number of drug-related deaths in Scotland rose to 867 last year, over twice the death rate in the rest of the U.K., and possibly the highest…
