Question reference: S6W-09379
- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Linlithgow, Scottish National Party
- Date lodged: 27 June 2022
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Current status: Answered by Angela Constance on 6 July 2022
Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what progress has been made in its discussions with the UK Government regarding taking action to tackle the production and distribution of illicit drugs by regulating the sale of pill presses.
Answer
As Minister for Drugs Policy I am continuing to push UK Government Ministers to take action to regulate the availability and sale of pill presses.
We know that the use of illicit, or 'street', benzodiazepines is a significant factor in the level of drug-related deaths seen in Scotland, these are tablets which are largely produced in Scotland by organised crime groups with access to pill press machines. I have been calling on the UK Government for well over a year now to take action to regulate the sale of these machines. Most recently this was raised with UK Minister for Policing, Kit Malthouse, at a meeting on 19 May. At that meeting Mr Malthouse agreed that there was a need to act around this and added that UK Government colleagues were currently looking for an appropriate piece of legislation that they could use to introduce some form of restriction relating to the use of such equipment for the production of illegal substances. He was not able to provide any timescale for this work.
I have also met with Police Scotland colleagues to discuss this issue and they are clear in their support for regulation to be introduced, emphasising the evidence that the vast majority of these tablets are being mass produced in Scotland by these machines. I have also recently discussed this with colleagues from the National Crime Agency who agree that there is a need for action to be taken on this issue and they are working with UK Government colleagues to take this forward.