Letter from Convener of the Criminal Justice Committee, 8 December 2021
I am writing to you regarding a proposal for a joint committee meeting to consider how to tackle the misuse of drugs in Scotland. Any action taken in this area requires a joined up approach on justice matters, health, poverty and social justice issues.
The Criminal Justice Committee held a roundtable evidence session on 27 October 2021 on the misuse of drugs and the criminal justice system. The Official Report of the meeting can be found here. We heard powerful testimony from those with lived experience of drug use. They urged us to take action to improve the services provided to those who misuse drugs and to tackle the high number of drug deaths in Scotland.
The Scottish Drug Deaths Taskforce has made a number of recommendations for a
range of stakeholders across the justice, health and third sectors, since it was established in 2019.
We would like to convene a joint meeting of the Criminal Justice Committee, the Social Justice and Social Security Committee and the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee to scrutinise the progress that has been made in implementing the Taskforce’s recommendations. This would be a meeting with cross party representation from each committee.
The witnesses we could hear from might include the Chair of the Scottish Drug Deaths Taskforce, the Minister for Drug Policy, and the UK Minister for Crime and Policing, Kit Malthouse MP.
I would appreciate your views on this proposal. I have written to the Convener of the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee, Gillian Martin MSP, in similar terms. If you are in agreement in principle, I would hope to arrange the cross-party committee meeting in the first few months of 2022.
Best wishes,