Hundreds of drug dealers evade justice, as Douglas Ross's Right to Recovery Bill voted down
Scottish Labour says Scotland ‘will never get to grips’ with the drugs crisis under the SNP.
Almost 600 drug dealers have had their criminal cases dropped in the past three years, it has been claimed, despite Scotland still grappling with a drug deaths crisis.
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar questioned John Swinney on the figure at First Minister’s Questions [FMQs] on Thursday, before MSPs later voted down a Bill proposed by Douglas Ross that would have enshrined in law the right to treatment for people with drug addiction, including rehab.
The former Scottish Tory leader’s Right to Recovery (Scotland) Bill was expected to fail in its first stage after Holyrood’s health committee recommended voting against it. The Greens joined the SNP in voting down the Bill, while Labour and the Lib Dems voted for it. The legislation fell by 52 to 63 votes.
Mr Ross accused the two parties of “shamefully abandoning” vulnerable Scots by voting down his Bill and warned them the public would not forgive them. “This is a dark day for Scotland,” he said after the vote.
Mr Sarwar had earlier said Scotland “will never get to grips with the drugs death emergency while he [Mr Swinney] and the SNP are in charge”.
In the past six months, there have been 607 suspected drug deaths in Scotland - equating to around one death every six hours.
Speaking at FMQs, Mr Sarwar said: “Shamefully, 573 charges for drug dealing were dropped in the last three years because the case was time barred.
“Hundreds simply walked free and evaded justice, not because they were found innocent, but because of this Government’s incompetence.
“People selling poison to communities are being given the green light because John Swinney can’t run a court system that sends drug dealers to prison.”
Mr Swinney said this was due to the backlog in the court system following the coronavirus pandemic. He also disputed the claim that drug dealers were evading justice as Scotland’s prisons were “congested” because of so many inmates receiving long sentences for drug dealing and organised crime.
This comes just a week after Justice Secretary Angela Constance announced around 440 more prisoners would be released early due to overcrowding.
Mr Sarwar said: “There is no justification for hundreds of drug dealers walking free because of the incompetence of the SNP Government that has lost control. Six years after declaring an emergency, Scotland still leads Europe in drug deaths.
“John Swinney has abandoned justice and recovery, so isn’t it the case that we will never get to grips with the drug death emergency while he and the SNP stay in charge?”
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