Wishart backs plans to decriminalise drug possession 

Shetland MSP Beatrice Wishart has backed the Scottish Government’s proposals to decriminalise all drugs for personal use, stressing her party have been calling for such action for years. 

 “Scotland has a drugs death rate three times that of anywhere else in the UK or in Europe. It is well established that the Scottish Government has not been maximising the powers it has to stop people dying.

“Scottish Liberal Democrats have been calling for the decriminalisation of drug misuse for years.

“We have set out clear plans to get people into treatment instead of prison, for drug testing facilities and for a network of safe consumption spaces.

“If the Scottish Government is at last serious about reform, this will take detailed work both here in Scotland and in partnership with colleagues across the UK and beyond, not years of wrangling over where powers sit.

 “Services and staff also need more support. Ministers need to recognise this is an urgent public health crisis,” she said.