The UK Government is fighting a war on drugs that cannot be won, all seven Glasgow MPs have said.

The city’s SNP MPs have branded the new strategy announced last week by Boris Johnson as pursuing failure by continuing to seek to punish people for having a problem.

The new ten year strategy, ‘From harm to hope’ includes increasing capacity for rehab.

It also includes measures like removing passports and driving licenses of people who use drugs.

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The MPs said this is a “backwards step”.

In a letter to UK Crime and Policing Minister Kit Malthouse, they said: “Stringent drug laws and punishments have been shown to be ineffective at tackling the harm caused by drugs and Scotland now faces the worst levels of drug deaths in Europe. We cannot be clearer a different approach is overdue.”

Glasgow Times:

They told the minister they are “absolutely opposed” to a policy where people who seek help are penalised “further ingraining the shame and stigma which surrounds addiction”.

Instead, they call for a public health approach, tackling a problem in a more “empathetic” way, like Scotland’s effort to tackle violence which they said gave people an alternative with job opportunities and investment in a future outside crime.

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The MPs said the plan for “forcing people into medical treatment by threatening them with harsher punishment” was “extremely worrying.

The MPs said: “We are concerned his government are pursuing a war on drugs hat cannot be won with a strategy which has failed to work to date.

“Further penalizing drug users is an idea which may appease some in the Conservative Party but it will not work in practice.”

The letter is signed by all seven Glasgow MPs, Alison Thewliss, Carol Monaghan, Chris Stephens, Anne McLaughlin, David Linden, Partick Grady and Stewart McDonald.

Alison Thewliss whose constituency includes many outdoor injecting sites said in the city centre and surrounding areas said the strategy does not include safer drug consumption facilities or overdose prevention sites.

She said: “Providing safe injection facilities will stop people injecting in squalid conditions across the city and reduce the public health risk of needles in our parks and closes. It is beyond comprehension that the Tories would act directly against expert advice when so many lives are at risk. Drug users do not need more shame and stigma, they need help to recover.   

“I would urge Ministers to listen to expert advice and to reform drug policy to save lives and reduce harm. The war on drugs has failed and the UK Tory government must instead take a public health approach.”