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Decriminalisation – it’s a scary word for some but we’ve been hearing a lot of it recently.

And, like the drugs wrecking our communities, it’s not going away any time soon, no matter how deep the Tory Government puts its head in the sand.

In the past months, the Daily Record has investigated what can be done about Scotland’s drug death crisis, which is the worst in Europe and creeping towards being the worst in the world.

We have encouraged doctors, politicians, academics, recovery groups and former drug addicts to lay their cards on the table. They have overwhelmingly spoken of treating drugs as a health issue rather than a criminal one.

What they are really saying, of course, is that we need to decriminalise people who use drugs.

The Record is now laying its own cards on the table – we support any moves to focus on getting people off drugs while hammering the greedy dealers at the root of the problem.

If that means we stop jailing powerless addicts at the bottom of the drugs chain, then that’s what we must do.

And if it means the UK Government handing over the power to Holyrood to finally start applying progressive and effective solutions to this unmitigated crisis and getting more people into treatment, it should do it without delay.

Earlier this week, the Scottish affairs committee at Westminster heard Police Scotland’s Assistant Chief Constable Steve Johnson give an impassioned appeal for radical reform, pleading with said politicians to have “confidence and courage” to decriminalise.

Almost every witness to appear before that inquiry has spoken of the benefits of decriminalisation. The evidence points towards this being beneficial for all.

This wouldn’t mean going easy on dealers – and there could arguably be more resources devoted to smashing drugs gangs if millions of pounds are not flushed down the toilet in forcing addicts through courts and prison sentences.

(Image: DAILY RECORD)

Court convictions mean drug users are punished for their addictions, including fines they can’t afford to pay or jail terms that make their problems worse. What’s the point in that?

Other countries have recognised their own crises, with Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Canada and, notably, Portugal among 25 nations to loosen the punitive attitude to drug possession to enable treatment programmes to succeed.

Those nations haven’t had it anywhere near as bad as Scotland, yet we lag behind strategically, saddled with the UK’s lame and punitive War on Drugs mentality.

The Tory Government reckons we’re still fighting a war that was effectively lost years ago. Sadly, the drugs won. They are a fact of life we have to face up to.

To be clear, the current Scottish Government’s performance on drugs has been appalling. The death rate has doubled on the SNP’s watch, as successive ministers have implied that an “ageing cohort” of drug users can’t really be helped.

The case for a drug consumption room (DCR) in Glasgow has been backed by Glasgow City Council, the Scottish Government, including the First Minister, and all major political parties except the Tories.

Such facilities – 118 around the world – have saved thousands of lives across Canada, Spain, France Germany and other nations.

(Image: Getty Images)

Scotland’s biggest city has a clearer need than any city in all of Europe for such a facility, which would encourage addicts into treatment, cut down on heroin needles on city pavements and counter the spread of diseases such as HIV.

But we cannot open a properly serviced DCR without amendments to UK law that would amount to some kind of decriminalisation of people who take the drugs into such facilities.

It’s therefore madness and self-harming for us, as a society, to accept this zero tolerance of drugs mentality, blocking ourselves from measures that are proven to be effective and supported by everyone in the know.

Other nations to hammer drug users include the US and Sweden – and they too are among the worst drug death countries in the world.

Scotland’s death rate is exceeded only by America – for now at least.

DCRs won’t solve all the problems – not by a long shot, amid our deadly polydrug habits – but with on-site professionals engaging daily with addicts, people might be convinced that those 50p “blues” they’re being offered around the corner might be the ones to kill them.

People don’t die of overdoses in DCRs but plenty of Scots have been found dead on pavements after using drugs in squalid, makeshift dens they are forced to use in the absence of humane facilities.

The biggest route to progress is properly funding harm reduction and rehab programmes that have a real goal of getting people off drugs within terms that don’t span a lifetime, which our Government reckons is the best outcome for some addicts.

The Record has waged its own war, constantly exposing the gangsters and dealers who flood our streets with drugs such as heroin cocaine, pharmaceutical pills and street drugs cooked up in makeshift factories by the million.

For the sakes of everyone in Scotland, we must now look to win the hearts and minds of afflicted people whose lives are increasingly forfeit to the addictions.

The best way to do that is to start treating them better.