Too many families in West Dunbartonshire are dealing with the “devastating crisis” of drug deaths, says the area’s Green MSP.
Ross Greer spoke out this week after the Lennox Herald reported how 20 local people had died as a result of drugs last year.
He supported calls to legalise drugs, saying criminalisation has caused more harm than it has prevented.
The figure has worryingly increased by 25 percent in the past 12 months.
The Scottish figure represents a 27 percent increase from 2017, figures which were themselves record setting and mean that Scotland continues to have the highest rate of drug deaths in the EU.
The MSP said: “We’ve known for some time that Scotland is in the grip of a drug deaths emergency but these figures are still absolutely shocking and show that far too many families in West Dunbartonshire are dealing with the devastating effects of this crisis.
“Every single one of these deaths is a tragedy.
“When it comes to drugs, criminalisation has caused so much more harm than it can claim to have prevented.
“The ‘war on drugs’ approach has self-evidently failed. Addiction is better tackled by trained medical professionals, not with the strong arm of the law, just as it has been in countries like Portugal, where the rate of drugs-related deaths are a tiny fraction of what they are here.
“If we want to avoid losing thousands more lives both the UK and Scottish governments must commit to immediately adopting an evidence-based, public health approach.
“The approach of looking and acting tough hasn’t worked, it’s time we try what we know will make a real difference.”
