The Scottish Government has been criticised for dodging questions on a ditched prosecution against an Angus legal high shop.
North-east Scotland MSP Alex Johnstone has labelled their response to questions into the dropped prosecution against High Life in Montrose for selling drug-taking equipment as “disgraceful”.
His comments come after The Courier revealed police raided the shop under a drug search warrant in July last year and seized bongs and pipes.
Police sent a report to the procurator fiscal, seeking prosecution under section 9A(1) of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 which prohibits the sale of items used to take drugs, but it was decided there was no case.
Mr Johnstone submitted written questions to the Scottish Government to find out why and to ask what the Scottish Government is doing to tackle the sale of drug-taking equipment.
But he described the answers from Minister for Community Safety Roseanna Cunningham and Solicitor General Lesley Thomson QC as “vague and evasive”.
Ms Cunningham said in her response that the classification of drugs and supply of drug paraphernalia is a reserved matter and that ministers had held a recent conference to discuss legal highs.
Ms Thomson defined what procurators fiscal do and quoted Section 9A(1) of the 1971 Act in full, but provided no information on why the case did not proceed in Angus.
Mr Johnstone said the “vague responses” received from the Scottish Government on a subject which has galvanised the communities of Angus were “absolutely unacceptable”.
“First of all the answer from the Minister is to a question I did not even ask. I wanted to find out about taking action against the sale of drug paraphernalia from retail premises, but instead got a meandering soliloquy that focused on legal highs rather than items such as bongs and other equipment used in drug taking. The second answer is better, but ultimately equally evasive.
“Following a successful prosecution of a shop owner selling drug paraphernalia in Yorkshire, I wanted to know why a case presented by Police Scotland in Angus was not taken forward by COPFS.
“In response I got a paragraph or two on the law, but absolutely no explanation of why the case in Angus was not taken forward. The answer did point out that there have in fact been three instances where people have been prosecuted under the relevant legislation, but in a move which takes this from the sublime to the ridiculous, I now understand that the COPFS will not give further information on these cases unless an FOI request is submitted.”
He added: “This is a complete and utter shambles, and it’s disgraceful.
“Communities in the north east are expressing grave concern about the sale of drug paraphernalia, and collectively we are being palmed off with vague responses from the Scottish Government.
“It seems to me that the Scottish Government are stalling on giving real answers to any questions, however serious, between now and the referendum, and quite frankly it’s not good enough.”