Scotland’s drug deaths still worst in Europe after 12% rise

If something is the worst in a category, it getting 12% worse obviously means it is worse than before. What kind of non-title is that?

A better title is “obviously” Scotland remains the worst, with a 12% increase.

Why isn’t anyone telling those people that drugs are illegal? Surely then everyone would just stop selling / buying / taking drugs!

Edit: Because someone asked ‘What do you suggest?’, and I suspect this will kick off the same debate that’s been had a billion times over, I’ll provide my current state of mind on the issue, rather than just posting a snarky one-liner. Disclaimer: I’m not a professional and don’t have a background in any scientific field related to drugs. (Then again, when people with those background work in government and try to actually have a science-based approach, they [simply get sacked anyway](https://www.ias.org.uk/news/prof-david-nutt-sacked-from-advisory-council-on-the-misuse-of-drugs/)).

Here are some of my suggestions, along with some notes / thoughts on each point:

* Legalising all drugs completely
– This doesn’t mean that you can suddenly cook up Carfentanyl in your backyard and sell it on the streets
– You can’t even sell honey without strict regulations for how this is to be done in place
– The same needs to apply to drugs. They need to be regulated like any other substances. Purity standards should be extremely strict.

* Make the law surrounding illegal acts performed under the influence of drugs very harsh
– You often hear people say that legalising drugs would somehow create a universal get-out-of-jail-card for anyone in court who just says “but I was on drugs, I wasn’t thinking straight”. I don’t know why anyone things this is or ever was a valid justification for any actions. Should bank-robbers just all get drunk before robbing a bank and then they walk out of court because the judge’s hands are tied? This makes no sense. If you cause a car accident while drunk, the consequences are far worse than when you’re sober. The same will obviously apply to any drugs.

* Public services
– This needs to be done anyway (legalised drugs or not), but strong public services are needed to underpin drug legislation. Rehabilitation, done by mental health professionals, must be widely available. Often people turn to drugs out of desperation and because they have no help. Yes, some people don’t want to be helped, but the current state of the mental health system is in shambles (I worked in the field, I’ve seen it, it’s awful)

* Stigmatisation and double standards
– Society itself needs to change. Younger people might be a bit more on board with this already. Addiction must be seen and treated as a disease. Drug users should not be ostracised and drug use cannot be viewed as a moral failing.
– It is rather telling that white people using drugs get away with it easily, while anyone else gets judged harshly. Drugs are used as a convenient vehicle to lock people up. I won’t go into the history of the Reagan / Nixon administrations, but look it up, it’s all pretty obvious
– The UK being a huge cannabis exporter just adds insult to injury
– Another argument you hear often is that making something legal somehow endorses it. That makes no sense. It’s the same argument as saying that making gay marriage legal suddenly turns all the children gay. It simply doesn’t work like that. Anyone who wants drugs will find ways to take them. If they can do it safely, that is a win for everyone. Making drugs legal may even take some of the ‘cool’ factor out of it.
– Drug users are not automatically junkies. I’ve worked with so, so, so many casual drug users. None of them were addicts, all of them had successful careers and families. A lot of them would never go outside or party to do drugs, so it’s not like they were out in public terrorising people with their drug use. Even if drug use wasn’t allowed in public places, what one does in their own house shouldn’t be the government’s business, so long as no harm comes to others.

Many drug deaths could be prevented by regulating and therefore purifying drugs. Additives used to stretch drugs can have unforeseen side-effects and are very dangerous. Drug-related gang violence would be vastly reduced. Pure drugs, available from certified stores would take a huge amount of business away from the very gangs we’ve trying to combat by making drugs illegal.

Now, having said all this, I understand that this is a nuanced and complicated issue. Many people have family members who struggled with / died as a consequence of drug addiction. Many people blame drugs. I generally tend to blame people’s upbringings and environments. If people had access to therapy, I am sure drug deaths would go down immensely.

I don’t like it when people say “the taxes from drugs will make loads of money”. They might. They might not. This shouldn’t be a capitalist argument (though it would be nice if tax income from the sale of alcohol and other drugs went straight into mental health / rehabilitation funding).

I won’t even go into the whole “alcohol / cigarettes / sugar are drugs too and much more unhealthy than [x]” – debate. We can’t outlaw everything that is unhealthy. And our drug-classification has nothing to do with damage to organs / health anyway. You can’t police people into a healthy lifestyle. You need to educate, inform and offer help where possible.

Back in the day a lot of drugs were consumed in campervans. Ironic