How Scotland’s Lord Advocate is boldly changing the way we deal with illegal drugs – Tom Wood

Lord Advocate James Wolffe QC should be applauded for quietly moving people found in possession of illegal drugs from the courts to recovery services, while still going after the dealers, writes Tom Wood.

Drugs users in Scotland tend to need help, rather than a criminal conviction

Partnerships are difficult – we all know that. An old friend of mine once described partnership working in the voluntary sector as requiring “the suppression of mutual loathing in the pursuit of government money”. It’s a definition that has brought many a laugh, because it’s so close to the truth.

At its bottom line, successful partnership working is always about compromise, giving up power, sharing resources in the interests of a shared goal. Yet for all its difficulties, we also know that some problems can only be tackled by partnerships. And if ever a problem demanded a wholehearted partnership approach, it’s surely our country’s interminable struggle with substance misuse. The headline figures of this catastrophe are stark: over 1,000 dead a year is bad enough but beneath that lies a vast unseen iceberg of suffering and destruction of our people, mainly young ones. In fairness, the need for a partnership approach in this area has been long recognised. Alcohol and drugs partnerships were formed for precisely that reason. But it’s here that the rhetoric and the action diverges. Over the last decade, budgets have been cut and substance misuse has slipped from the top table. Fergus Ewing was the last effective Cabinet-rank drugs minister and that was ten years ago.

And if further proof were needed of our fragmented approach, the recent twin drug conferences held in Glasgow serve to illustrate the very antithesis of partnership working. Think about it: two conferences on the same subject running parallel on subsequent days in the same city with different agendas, organisers and attendees. It’s the stuff of satire, more worthy of a primary school playground than serious debate on policy. It beggars belief and you do wonder what it would take – short of a pandemic – for our leaders to set their petty bickering aside for the common good.

But wait, all is not gloom – in a secluded part of the forest, an unlikely champion is emerging and taking bold action.

When James Wolffe QC was appointed our Lord Advocate his profile was, shall we say, low key. It’s never wise to be rude about the Lord Advocate but let’s just say that he lacked some of the street cred of his two predecessors, both hard-bitten criminal prosecutors.

But appearances have proved deceptive. Since his appointment, Lord Advocate Wolffe has been quietly and without fanfare diverting some people found in possession of illegal drugs away from prosecution and to recovery services.

We have long known that we cannot imprison our way out of the drug problem and now the Lord Advocate is actually doing something about it – no soft touch, just smart. And dealers are not included.

Let’s hope our diminished drug services have the capacity to cope. How has this significant policy change happened outwith the argy-bargy of our political arena?

Well, it’s because that vested in the ancient office of Lord Advocate is the discretion to prosecute or not, in the public interest. It’s an office with great power and Lord Advocate Wolffe is using it.

So bravo Lord Advocate for your bold actions. Time will tell whether these diversions will be effective but since they replace a remedy that has long proved ineffective – it’s well worth a try.

Lord Advocate Wolffe may have come to his great office in a low-key manner, one might even say in “sheep’s clothing”. It’s good to see him bare his fangs.

Tom Wood is a writer and former deputy chief constable