Police officers will be able to hand out warnings for class A drug possession rather than seeking prosecution Scotland's Lord Advocate announces

Scotland's Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service reported that "The Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain QC made this statement to the Scottish Parliament on Diversion from Prosecution ... In Scotland, prosecutors act as the gatekeepers to the criminal justice system and, subject to some limited exceptions, it is the duty of the police to report a case to the prosecutor where they believe there is sufficient evidence that an offence has been committed ... One of those limited exceptions to report to the prosecutor is the Recorded Police Warning scheme. The scheme provides officers with a speedy, effective and proportionate means of dealing with low-level offending. Officers may choose to deal with low-level offences by issuing a Recorded Police Warning ... the Guidelines previously permitted the police to issue Recorded Police Warnings for possession of Class B & Class C drugs ... I have decided that an extension of the Recorded Police Warning Guidelines to include possession offences for Class A drugs is appropriate. Police officers may therefore choose to issue a Recorded Police Warning for simple possession offences for all classes of drugs." The Lord Advocate then went on to say this change is not the same as decriminalising possession of Class A Drugs (which include psychedelics) in Scotland, but that's pretty much how the Times reported the news "Drug use in Scotland has, in effect, been decriminalised. Henceforth, the lord advocate has announced, police will not instigate proceedings against individual drug users. The personal consumption of all drugs will result in a police warning, not a criminal charge." The Scotsman newspaper had a somewhat more nuanced and informative article about this change.

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