Scotland can no longer let drug dealers ‘off the hook’
POLICE and courts have been urged to get tough on drug dealers in order to tackle Scotland’s shameful position as the overdose death capital of Europe. Drug deaths have more than doubled under the SNP from 455 in 2007 to 934 last year, prompting demands for ministers to overhaul the country’s failing drugs strategy.
Now the Sunday Express can reveal that, while overdose deaths have rocketed, the number of drug dealers being caught by the police has fallen by more than 60 per cent.
Scotland’s eight former police forces recorded 9,328 crimes of possession of drugs with intent to supply in 2007/08 when the SNP first came to power.
By last year, that number was down to 3,531 – the lowest total since the annual crime statistics were published more than two decades ago.
Force insiders say there has been a shift away from targeting street-level dealers to concentrate on ‘Mr Big’ drug lords.
A new, radical drugs strategy is needed.
This is backed up by the increase of the more serious offence of illegal importation of drugs, which rose to a record high of 64 crimes last year.
Scottish Conservative shadow health secretary Miles Briggs said: “It’s right that police focus on the high-level drug suppliers, and it’s welcome those particular figures have risen.
“However, the consequence of that seems to be those on the ground who are flooding our communities with drugs are getting let off the hook.
“This is exactly why a new, radical drugs strategy is needed, one that ensures those who deal drugs in Scotland’s towns and cities are caught and dealt with severely.”
The calls for a new drugs strategy are among the most pressing matters facing incoming justice and health secretaries Humza Yousaf and Jeane Freeman.
The last one, The Road to Recovery: A New Approach to Tackling Scotland’s Drug Problem, was launched by the SNP in May 2008.
It hinted at the new approach, warning that police drug seizures had “no long-term impact on the quantity or price of drugs on the street, or on the levels of dealing”.
The law enforcement part of the strategy relied heavily on the now-defunct Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency, which has since been amalgamated into cash-strapped Police Scotland.
Two years ago, a force whistleblower said officers had been told “not to be proactive and investigate drug dealers” in case it incurs additional overtime costs.
However, even when they are arrested and charged by the police, many small-time drug pushers still avoid prison in favour of community sentences.
The number of drug convictions secured in Scottish courts has fallen in recent years from 8,477 in 2007/08 to 6,378 in 2016/17.
Ten years ago, 15 per cent of drug criminals were put behind bars, 12 per cent were cautioned or admonished and 60 per cent were fined.
A further 13 per cent were given probation, a community service order or some other community punishment, such as drug treatment and testing or restriction of liberty orders.
By last year, the share of drug criminals being sentenced to a community payback order, a restriction of liberty order or a drug treatment and testing order had risen to 23 per cent.
A further 16 per cent were sent to prison or a young offenders’ institution, while 17 per cent were admonished and 44 per cent were fined.
Superintendent David Pettigrew, of Police Scotland’s Safer Communities, said: “Through engagement with our communities, tackling serious and organised crime remains a priority and we remain committed to keeping our communities safe. Our resolve to catch those who prey on our communities will not falter.
“We collaborate with law enforcement partners around the UK and internationally, actively targeting those individuals involved in serious and organised crime, including the manufacturing, importation, sale and distribution of controlled or illicit drugs that are destined for Scottish streets.”
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “We are tackling the scourge of illegal drugs, applying the full force of the law to disrupt the criminals who blight the lives of so many, while supporting those with an addiction.
“In the past decade we have invested £746million in tackling problem alcohol and drug use, with an additional £20m to improve treatment services this year alone.
“During that time drug-taking has fallen, with total drug crimes down by a fifth and reports of possession with intent decreasing by more than 60 per cent. Our new substance use strategy to be published later this year will target the changing drugs landscape to meet the needs of those most at risk.”
Possession with intent to supply
2007/08 – 9,328
2008/09 – 9,697
2009/10 – 9,131
2010/11 – 6,144
2011/12 – 5,423
2012/13 – 3,861
2013/14 – 3,594
2014/15 – 3,700
2015/16 – 3,976
2016/17 – 3,531
Drug related deaths
2007 – 455
2008 – 574
2009 – 545
2010 – 485
2011 – 584
2012 – 581
2013 – 527
2014 – 614
2015 – 706
2016 – 868
2017 – 934
Suppliers who escape imprisonment
A DRUG dealer who stashed 20 grams of heroin in his exercise bike dodged jail despite having been locked up before for the same crime.
Police raiding the home of James Dunbar, 51, in Tarbolton, Ayrshire, also found a set of weighing scales and three mobile phones with messages asking for drugs.
His lawyer told Ayr Sheriff Court in February: “He accepts he possessed a large quantity and will be up for working in the community.”
Sheriff Desmond Leslie said he had already served a custodial sentence for supplying heroin but added: “If people don’t learn from history then you’re a classic example of that.”
Dunbar was sentenced to 18 months supervision and a restricted liberty order, under which he must remain at home from 8pm to 7am for six months.
A STUDENT who sold psychedelic magic mushrooms to a friend – who was later found dead – walked away from court.
Scott McKerral, 20, admitted supplying the drugs to Antoine Maury, 21, on the night he disappeared from Edinburgh College’s halls of residence.
The Frenchman’s body was found in Duddingston Loch more than five weeks later and his mother Laura Vesterinen-Maury said: “I am not bitter or vindictive, but I am angry.
“I want this boy to go to jail, at least for a while, so he understands the consequences of his actions.”
At Edinburgh Sheriff Court last November, Sheriff John Cook said McKerral, of Campbeltown, Argyll, showed “deep remorse” and sentenced him to 210 hours’ unpaid work.
A MOTHER criticised the sentence handed down to a teenage drug dealer who supplied ecstasy to her 13-year-old daughter.
The 16-year-old admitted supplying Class A drugs at Peterhead Sheriff Court and in April last year was put on a 12-month supervision order and given 140 hours’ unpaid work.
The girl was taken to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary after she began hallucinating and suffering heart palpitations. Her mother said:
“He should have got a custodial sentence. He was giving Class A drugs to a 13-year-old, and she ended up in hospital. The sentence isn’t enough.”
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Stephen Bear and his mother deny that he took drugs
A HAPLESS drug dealer was busted after calling 999 when he and his friends became ill after snorting some of his cocaine stash.
Richard Bibby, his friend Gary Ferguson and his then girlfriend Michaella McKecknie went back to his flat in Paisley after a night out in July 2016.
The police later found cocaine with a street value of £1,200 and drug dealing paraphernalia, including digital scales, clear bags, and a mortar and pestle.
Defence agent Eamon McGeehan told Paisley Sheriff Court last August that Bibby was allowing his flat to be used to store drugs to pay off his own cocaine debts.
Sheriff Tom McCartney fined him £1,000 and ordered him to carry out 300 hours of unpaid work, saying: “I have taken some time and decided that this is an alternative to prison.”