Picture caption Annie Wells mentioned a "
Annie Wells mentioned a “full, evidence-based method” ought to be taken to the medicine loss of life disaster
The Scottish Conservatives’ public well being spokeswoman has mentioned she is prepared to think about the decriminalisation of medication.
Annie Wells MSP additionally mentioned she was open to the concept of drug consumption rooms – services the place medicine may be taken safely.
Present drug legal guidelines, that are reserved to Westminster, forestall possession of Class A medicine inside such a facility.
The UK authorities has persistently mentioned it’s against any change within the legislation.
‘Proof-based method’
Ms Wells mentioned she had written to Prime Minister Boris Johnson urging him to make Scotland’s medicine loss of life disaster a high precedence.
Scotland currently has the highest drug death rate within the European Union.
In 2017, most drug-related deaths concerned heroin however a big proportion had additionally taken capsules
The Scottish authorities desires drug coverage powers handed to Holyrood so it could actually alter coverage to deal with the difficulty as a public well being, and never judicial, matter.
Requested whether or not she backed measures together with decriminalisation and repair rooms, Ms Wells mentioned a “full, evidence-based method” ought to be taken. “I’m open to listening to what these points and issues may be”, she added.
Drug summit
Ms Wells continued: “We do have to look radically at this and I shall be open to no matter comes my means and I’ll take a look at all of it as an evidence-based method.
“If that appears to be the correct means then that’s one thing we should take a look at in larger element and urge the Scottish authorities and UK authorities to do the identical.”
She referred to as on Boris Johnson to carry a summit on the difficulty “as quickly as potential”.
The UK authorities introduced in October it will deliver specialists collectively in Glasgow earlier than Christmas to debate the difficulty.
Nevertheless, it was postponed attributable to December’s snap normal election.
Ms Wells referred to as on each the UK and Scottish governments to put the difficulty on the high of their agendas and to place their political variations apart.
She mentioned: “I misplaced a neighbour. Throughout Scotland we misplaced 1,187 folks in 2018, and I heard from so many households who misplaced family members in 2019.
“So I’ve requested the prime minister to make the drug deaths disaster his high precedence in Scotland.
“This 12 months we ought to be targeted on saving lives as an alternative of getting caught up in politics and the standard constitutional blame recreation.”
The Scottish authorities mentioned it deliberate to carry a summit on drug deaths firstly of 2020.
They mentioned that they had repeatedly invited the UK authorities to attend however that, to this point, that they had refused.
A Scottish authorities spokesman mentioned: “We firmly imagine the outdated Misuse of Medication Act 1971 ought to be amended to permit us to implement a variety of public well being targeted responses”, a Scottish authorities spokesman mentioned.
“We now have referred to as on the UK authorities to amend the act or to devolve these powers to Scotland, and this have to be a part of any dialogue we have now.”
A spokeswoman for the House Workplace mentioned the variety of drug deaths throughout the UK was “extraordinarily regarding”, specifically the figures for Scotland.
She mentioned bettering entry to remedies similar to Naloxone – used to deal with overdoses of methadone, morphine and fentanyl – was key.
She added: “We’ll proceed to work with the Scottish authorities to sort out drug-misuse and hurt and maintain our help for programmes which scale back the health-related harms of medication, such widening the provision of Naloxone to forestall overdose deaths.”