Meeting of the Parliament 06 February 2014
We should be grateful for that contribution from Graeme Pearson, in which he shared his experience from his former role in the then Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency.
I am pleased to contribute to the debate to help to raise awareness of the dangers of new psychoactive substances, which appear to be increasingly available not just in Scotland but throughout the world. According to a report in The Guardian last September, the UK has become an international hub for websites selling those substances, with our postal workers operating as unwitting drug mules and delivering to thousands of customers who can buy the stuff easily online.
I tried a Google search last night and the first website that appeared in my hit list was a site offering to sell and deliver to me. I got no further than that, thankfully, because my system blocks the site from being accessed, but that is not the case for every online user.
The Guardian report showed that approximately 670,000 young folk in the UK aged between 15 and 24 claimed to have taken those substances and the numbers will continue to rise unless something is done about the issue.
As several members have said, here in Scotland, 47 deaths were recorded in 2012 in which one or more psychoactive substances were implicated in the cause of death. As the minister said in her opening speech, there is a huge danger to our young people. The term “legal highs” somehow implies that those substances are safe, tested and regulated, but—as Alex Johnstone mentioned—nothing could be further from the truth. They are anything but safe. Only the manufacturers know what is in the packets, and those substances are certainly not regulated or safely controlled in any way. Someone who takes such substances is taking a risk with their life and we must help to alert our young people to the dangers that they face when they are tempted into buying and taking what are potentially killer substances.
Of course, although we probably all agree that action is needed, it is not entirely clear what the most effective action would be. The science works far quicker than the law, and invariably we are playing catch-up. The manufacturers vary the substances slightly to evade whatever legal restrictions can be put in place, and by the time we may get a ban in place, another variant will be on the market.
The only legal weapons that we have are the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and the more recent temporary class drug order from 2011, which are both reserved to the UK, as is the regulation of internet services. I know that the Scottish Government is fully behind all the collaborative efforts to tackle the issue. However, unless jurisdictions around the world can outsmart the producers and peddlers of these substances, I am sure that we will continue to lag behind, which will ultimately put more of our young people at risk.
Methods of tackling the issue vary from country to country. I understand that Ireland has now banned the so-called head shops, which sell the potentially legal substances in question in the high street, and that it has made it a criminal offence to advertise, sell or supply them if they are not specifically controlled under existing legislation. That might be one way of dealing with the science and regaining some control over the rate of production of the drugs. In America, the substances are automatically banned if they are “substantially similar” to the chemical structure of substances that are already illegal, meaning that close chemical variants are also illegal. Portugal maintains a list of the substances that pose a public health risk and prohibits their advertising and distribution, which is punishable by fines and closure of premises.
The minister will be aware of the WEDINOS—Welsh emerging drugs and identification of novel substances—project and website that provides a mechanism for people in Wales to bring in substances that they may have purchased and have them fully tested and analysed. Anyone can check on the website and see what the products contain. The site also offers harm-reduction advice that can be shared in an attempt to give people at least some information that might help them.
There is a variety of attempts at tackling the issue around the world. I understand that the Home Office is reviewing what can be done here and intends to make some announcements in the spring, which I am sure the Scottish Government will be keen to contribute to.
The minister outlined some of the work going on in Scotland to complement other efforts. Last year, the minister organised an event with partners from the police, health service, community and youth organisations to see what could be done here to tackle the problem of new psychoactive substances. It is probably no surprise that those colleagues identified the need to tackle the supply of such substances. I am aware that we are looking at measures involving the police and trading standards officers seizing and testing substances on sale. Whether we can proceed as in Ireland and ban the shops that sell the stuff will depend on the Home Office review findings, but I am certain that the Scottish Government will contribute to the process and support whatever measures are proposed. Colleagues also asked for more help to try to reduce demand and to offer training for our alcohol and drug partnerships. I am glad to see that that is under way.
Two key areas that we need to do some hard thinking about are how to cut off the online route that offers sellers an easy and legitimate outlet to their market and how best to tackle the classification issue, perhaps as in Ireland, so that only named and controlled substances may legally be supplied. I believe that if we can get a firm grip on those two areas, we can make real progress in not only cutting off the supply of the substances to our young people, but overcoming the problem of keeping pace with the speed at which science can be applied in order to thwart the law.
I am happy to support the Government’s motion and I look forward to the rest of the debate.
15:53