Is the SNP serious about decriminalising drugs?

It is hard to criticise the SNP government’s recent legislative record in Scotland, if only because there isn’t one. Almost every single flagship measure the party has brought forward since the 2021 Scottish parliament election has either been altered, scrapped, blocked, or faces a lengthy legal challenge. More often than not, it has been one or more of these things.

Plans to restrict alcohol advertising have gone ‘back to the drawing board’ following an industry outcry. The Deposit Return Scheme – a recycling scheme for glass and plastic bottles – has been delayed for at least two years, and the company that had been set up to administer it has been rendered insolvent. The Gender Recognition Reform Bill has been ruled unlawful by the UK government and is currently on course for lengthy legal wrangle. Plans to outlaw human activity in large swathes of Scotland’s coastal waters have also been unceremoniously dumped.