Drug reform

There are no easy answers to the problem of illegal drugs, but the debate is not helped by experts such as Neil McKeganey (Platform, 30 November) taking issue with a former head of M15, implying that decriminalising possession of certain drugs is equivalent to legalising them.

This is not so, especially in relation to heroin, which causes the most harm. Heroin is highly addictive and forces addicts into dependency on dealers and a life of crime. More than half the inmates of Scotland’s overcrowded jails are there for drug-related offences.

Decriminalising possession of heroin for personal use together with treatment facilities, including the prescription of heroin where appropriate, has been shown to reduce crime and the harm done to addicts and their families. This would lessen dependence on the black market, where dealers should be vigorously pursued.

What is clear is that the problem is getting worse, and the main beneficiaries of our present policies are drug dealers and cartels, about whom Baroness Manningham-Buller, as former head of M15, may have more insight than Professor Neil McKeganey.

David Hannay

Kirkdale

Carsluith