The Herald, 28 March 2001
Socialists in call to let NHS
prescribe heroin
MURRAY RITCHIE
THE Scottish Socialist Party yesterday placed
action against drug abuse at the centre of its
general election campaign, with a radical policy
for decriminalising cannabis and introducing
heroin prescriptions on the NHS to cut out
criminal dealers.
To the alarm of Labour, Tommy Sheridan, the
SSP leader, appears to be gathering cautious
support from other opposition parties and even
from some Labour MSPs.
An SNP official confirmed that "most" of the 35
Nationalists in the Scottish Parliament now
support Margo MacDonald's call to legalise
cannabis for medical use.
A minority of the SNP even support Mr
Sheridan's call to do the same for recreational
users as a means of breaking the link with
pushers of hard drugs. Greens support
legalising cannabis and the Liberal Democrats
want a royal commission to investigate
decriminalisation.
A senior Labour MSP said about six of his
colleagues support decriminalising cannabis
altogether and a substantial minority want the
law on medical use changed.
Phil Gallie, the hard-line Tory justice
spokesman, said the Conservatives were
"relaxed" about moves to legalise cannabis for
the sick.
Mr Sheridan is planning an assault on Labour
policy with a rally on Sunday afternoon in Clyde
Street, Glasgow, in direct opposition to a
Labour-backed rally organised by the Daily
Record.
Tony Blair praised the Record's campaign
during his speech to its Scottish conference last
month and the paper has since unleashed a
campaign of sustained vilification of Mr
Sheridan without, so far, giving him the right of
reply.
Most recently Mr Sheridan was denounced as a
"working class zero" for challenge executive
policy on drugs and demanding a fresh
approach.
Kevin Williamson, SSP drugs spokesman, said
the executive's anti-drugs strategy was strong
on celebrity endorsement but, he said, it lacked
support from medical experts and field workers.
Mr Sheridan claimed the attacks from the
Record showed the SSP was getting to Labour.
"They are running scared of what we can do to
them in the general election."
He wants cannabis legalised so that users can
avoid contact with dealers pushing hard drugs.
Under the "kill the link" slogan he wants the
executive to declare war not just on dealers but
on the poverty which he claims prompts drug
abuse and the "hypocrisy" of the executive in
promoting "populist" stunts such as Sunday's
Record-backed protest.
He said: "The past ten years of populist
tub-thumping have tragically failed working class
kids and communities. It is time for a new
approach. We are not pro-drugs. We are anti
drugs, all drugs. I do not use drugs and I don't
smoke or drink. But I believe hash is no more
harmful than alcohol."
His strategy is to legalise cannabis to keep
youngsters away from dealers who would
introduce them to heroin. At the same time he
would encourage the NHS-supervised
prescription of heroin to discourage contact with
dealers and criminal behaviour.
The executive said it spent £250m a year on its
anti-drugs programme and it had announced
another £100m over three years for anti-drugs
education. "We have a well balanced
programme," a spokesman said.
Scotland Yard said yesterday that drug users
found with small amounts of cannabis are to be
let off with a formal warning instead of being
arrested. Police in Brixton are introducing the
policy to target their resources on the fight
against harder drugs.
Meanwhile, scientists at Dundee University have
been awarded £241,000 to study the effects of
cannabis on the brain.
Full story: http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/archive/28-3-19101-0-22-52.html
Michael Keaney
Mercuria Business School
Martinlaaksontie 36
01620 Vantaa
Finland
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
