Priti Patel is right.

She said: “Drugs devastate lives. They ruin communities and tear families apart.”

Anyone who has been living with a drug addiction, who has lived in a community where drug use in high or who has a family member with an addiction will tell you that is the truth.

The UK Home Secretary was merely stating the obvious.

Priti Patel is wrong on almost everything else she has to say on the subject, and on how she and the UK Government thinks it should be dealt with.

When the UK Labour leader, Keir Starmer, said the announcement by the Lord Advocate in Scotland to move away from prosecution for possession of small amounts of heroin, was “probably the right thing to do” Patel reverted to the default Tory law and order mantra.

She accused Starmer of being “weak on crime and weak on the causes of crime.”

On every progressive measure that is proposed for dealing with drugs and the harm caused Patel and her party stubbornly refuse to accept the benefit.

They are wedded to the image of being strong on law and order that wins them votes in the shires of England.

Drug addiction doesn’t discriminate in who becomes dependent on a substance whether it is heroin or cocaine or street valium.

But the problem is far more acute in the deprived areas of Glasgow, Dundee, Liverpool and Leeds than it is in the Tory heartlands of the English Home Counties.

The dogmatic 'Just Say No' and jail them if the don’t, approach has failed.

Patel said we need to be 'tough on the causes of crime'.

The first problem with that is branding being addicted to drugs as a crime.

She refuses to accept it is a health issue and that like other health issues those suffering need treatment not punishment.

It also fails spectacularly on the ‘causes’.

What are the causes of drug addiction, and drug deaths.

If you believe the tough on crime ‘just say no’ narrative then it is all about personal choice and nothing about adverse experiences, poverty, trauma and a feeling of despair and hopelessness.

The announcement in Scotland by the Lord Advocate, Dorothy Bain, that police can issue a warning for possession of Class A drugs is a huge step and a massive departure from the automatic criminalizing, punishing and stigmatizing people for decisions, that were not really choices, that led to a serious health problem.

Dragging people through the justice system has not stopped people taking drugs, instead in many cases it pushed them further out of a society they already felt disconnected from.

So, it not a deterrent. Instead, it is a waste of resources that could be spent in other ways to build people up instead of keeping them down.

The move away from prosecution to a warning is a good step but in itself it is unlikely to save any lives and get anyone off drugs.

Like drug consumption rooms, which would also be a very good thing in keeping people alive, and naloxone, which is currently preventing overdoses from being fatal, they are short term measures that will all help keep people alive.

The next step is preventing them from repeatedly needing naloxone to be administered or from continually visiting a drug consumption facility.

The next step is treatment.

Rather than referring someone to the prosecution services we can refer then to the health service.

Priti Patel says drugs devastate lives.

So does cancer and heart disease.

When someone has a heart attack they are not kept alive with a defibrillator only to be left to their own devices until the next time they need someone to intervene and save their life again and again.

They are put on a course of treatment. Treatment that is expensive, backed by research that has demonstrated it is effective and delivered by health professionals in the NHS.

There is nowhere near enough capacity in treatment that will actually help people become drug free.

The Lord Advocate has done what none of her predecessors were prepared to do.

She has taken a courageous decision that can be the turning point for drug policy in Scotland.

She said there was no “one size fits all” solution to drug addiction and drug deaths.

She is right. She has taken the first step in moving the justice system in the right direction.

The noises from the new Drug Policy Minister, Angela Constance, have been positive, especially when they are compared with the words coming from Priti Patel, the UK Home Secretary.

We now need the political will and similar courage to see this through and invest in the facilities and the staff that this problem needs.

Create the rehab spaces. Build the facilities. Staff the facilities.

Then maybe instead of trying to contain a problem we can solve it.

And we can help people get their lives back, give mothers back their sons and daughters and give children back their mothers and fathers.