Robert Celt
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Former justice secretary Kenny MacAskill has called on the SNP Government to stop treating drug users as criminals.
MacAskill, who served for seven years under Alex Salmond, claimed the war on drugs had failed across the world and said that police would be better targeting criminal gangs instead of low-level users.
The Scottish Government rejected the call and Labour branded his proposals "potentially dangerous".
MacAskill, justice secretary from 2007 to 2014, said the "winds of change are blowing" across the world.
He added: "There has been a -recognition that the war on drugs has failed. Even the United States, with all its armoury, is unable to stem the flow as it comes from within, as much as without their land.
"The direction is for drugs policy to no longer primarily be a law-enforcement issue, but become a health and social one."
MacAskill went on to call for drug laws to be devolved to Holyrood.
He said: "A commission of the great and the good in our society should be established to review what is one of the great social ills of our time.
"The direction of travel should mirror that being pursued -elsewhere, predicated more on -prevention than punishment and pursuing those profiting whilst helping those afflicted."
In his piece in a newspaper, MacAskill also wrote that police are already letting people off with a warning if they're caught with small amounts of cannabis.
The former solicitor previously campaigned alongside police in a series of crackdowns on drug crime.
In 2010, he fronted an attempt to destroy gangs who were transforming buildings into cannabis factories.
Independent MSP John Finnie, a former policeman, backed MacAskill.
Finnie said: "Imagine if the billions poured into failed law enforcement had instead been directed to education and the provision of the full range of harm-reduction treatments."
But Scottish Labour's Graeme Pearson, another former officer, said: "Kenny MacAskill had years as justice secretary to reform how our justice system works.
"His proposals today, with one foot out the door of Holyrood, are wrong and potentially dangerous.
"In my view, recent changes to possession of cannabis to result in fixed warnings sends out a dangerous signal in the long term."
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "The classification of drugs is reserved to Westminster.
"Even should we gain responsibility for the issue, we have no plans to support the legalisation or -decriminalisation of drugs."
News Moderator: Robert Celt 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: UK: Forget The Users.. Drugs War Must Go After The Generals
Author: Debbie Jackson
Contact: Daily Record
Photo Credit: None found
Website: Daily Record
MacAskill, who served for seven years under Alex Salmond, claimed the war on drugs had failed across the world and said that police would be better targeting criminal gangs instead of low-level users.
The Scottish Government rejected the call and Labour branded his proposals "potentially dangerous".
MacAskill, justice secretary from 2007 to 2014, said the "winds of change are blowing" across the world.
He added: "There has been a -recognition that the war on drugs has failed. Even the United States, with all its armoury, is unable to stem the flow as it comes from within, as much as without their land.
"The direction is for drugs policy to no longer primarily be a law-enforcement issue, but become a health and social one."
MacAskill went on to call for drug laws to be devolved to Holyrood.
He said: "A commission of the great and the good in our society should be established to review what is one of the great social ills of our time.
"The direction of travel should mirror that being pursued -elsewhere, predicated more on -prevention than punishment and pursuing those profiting whilst helping those afflicted."
In his piece in a newspaper, MacAskill also wrote that police are already letting people off with a warning if they're caught with small amounts of cannabis.
The former solicitor previously campaigned alongside police in a series of crackdowns on drug crime.
In 2010, he fronted an attempt to destroy gangs who were transforming buildings into cannabis factories.
Independent MSP John Finnie, a former policeman, backed MacAskill.
Finnie said: "Imagine if the billions poured into failed law enforcement had instead been directed to education and the provision of the full range of harm-reduction treatments."
But Scottish Labour's Graeme Pearson, another former officer, said: "Kenny MacAskill had years as justice secretary to reform how our justice system works.
"His proposals today, with one foot out the door of Holyrood, are wrong and potentially dangerous.
"In my view, recent changes to possession of cannabis to result in fixed warnings sends out a dangerous signal in the long term."
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "The classification of drugs is reserved to Westminster.
"Even should we gain responsibility for the issue, we have no plans to support the legalisation or -decriminalisation of drugs."
News Moderator: Robert Celt 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: UK: Forget The Users.. Drugs War Must Go After The Generals
Author: Debbie Jackson
Contact: Daily Record
Photo Credit: None found
Website: Daily Record
