by Councillor Jonathan McColl

While the concerted efforts of the council, health and social care partnership (HSCP), health board and our third-sector partners have led to a slower rise in drug deaths in West Dunbartonshire than the national average, that is cold comfort to families who have lost a loved one.

There is little the council or our partners can do without better funding, and without national policy changes to allow us to deal with problem drug use as a health issue rather than a criminal one.

We cannot have clearer evidence the current UK strategy is harming Scotland so we need our national politicians to set their fear of looking soft on criminal behaviour aside. We have another problem too: UK finances are not in good shape and Brexit is only going to make them worse. So, if we are to invest in better drug treatments, we need new revenue streams.

Recent research indicates that there is no increase in uptake when low level drugs are legalised. Evidence actually suggests that use drops among teenagers and young people.

If we were to legalise and tax cannabis as we do cigarettes and alcohol, we could plough the money raised into improving drug services to tackle problem drug use.

Read more: Re-think needed to halt drug death scourge, West Dunbartonshire MP says

Other countries have permitted recreational use of cannabis for some time and parliamentarians should look for evidence of the effect of this on health in those countries, and seriously consider whether such a move would be suitable for the UK.

With drug regulation a matter reserved to Westminster, it’s vital UK Government ministers take part in the upcoming multi-agency drugs summit being organised by the Scottish Government.

I don’t hold out much hope that an old-fashioned, right-wing Tory government has the political will to do anything other than pay lip service to changing course. To be fair, I can’t see UK Labour offering a much better outcome: tradition and the old ways of doing things runs deep in the foundations of Westminster’s corridors and cloisters.

So, while the best solutions can be enabled through independence, in the short term we’re reliant on hoping for modern thinking from old Etonians or devolution of powers to Scotland to resolve this crisis.

Either way, we need government at all levels to be bold and genuinely consider radical policy and legislative changes to reverse this downward spiral.