Alison Johnstone
Green
There are three questions to be put as a result of today’s business. I remind members that, if the amendment in the name of Sue Webber is agreed to, the amendment in the name of Jackie Baillie will fall.
The first question is, that amendment S6M-10490.1, in the name of Sue Webber, which seeks to amend motion S6M-10490, in the name of Elena Whitham, on drug law reform, be agreed to. Are we agreed?
The Presiding Officer:
There will be a division. There will be a short suspension to allow members to access digital voting.
17:01 Meeting suspended.
17:04 On resuming—
We will now proceed with the vote on amendment S6M-10490.1, in the name of Sue Webber.
The vote is now closed.
Paul O'Kane
Labour
On a point of order, Presiding Officer. My app would not connect. I would have abstained.
The Presiding Officer:
Thank you. We will ensure that that is recorded, Mr O’Kane.
Division number 1
Decision Time
The Presiding Officer:
The result of the division on amendment S6M-10490.1, in the name of Sue Webber, is: For 28, Against 66, Abstentions 17.
Amendment disagreed to.
The next question is, that amendment S6M-10490.3, in the name of Jackie Baillie, which seeks to amend motion S6M-10490, in the name of Elena Whitham, on drug law reform, be agreed to. Are we agreed?
The Presiding Officer:
There will be a division.
Division number 2
Decision Time
The Presiding Officer:
The result of the division on amendment S6M-10490.3, in the name of Jackie Baillie, is: For 21, Against 90, Abstentions 0.
Amendment disagreed to.
The final question is, that motion S6M-10490, in the name of Elena Whitham, on drug law reform, be agreed to. Are we agreed?
The Presiding Officer:
There will be a division.
Division number 3
Decision Time
The Presiding Officer:
The result of the division on motion S6M-10490, in the name of Elena Whitham, is: For 66, Against 45, Abstentions 0.
Motion agreed to,
That the Parliament believes that every life lost through drugs is a tragedy and recognises that behind each statistic is a grieving family and community; agrees that the scale of the drug deaths emergency in Scotland requires the Scottish Government to use every lever at its disposal to save and improve lives using the best available evidence; further agrees that the principles of the Scottish Government's national mission should be rooted in a human rights informed, public health approach, not a criminal justice one; believes that the support for people with substance dependency should be in parity with other health conditions, removing unnecessary stigma and discrimination; supports the calls for an urgent review of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 to fully align the law with the public health response outlined in the Scottish Government paper, A Caring, Compassionate and Human Rights Informed Drug Policy for Scotland, of which decriminalising drugs for personal use is one part, and agrees that the Scottish Government should work constructively with the UK Government to either amend the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 or devolve the powers to Scotland to draft its own drugs legislation that better reflects international best practice.
That concludes decision time.
Members’ business will be published tomorrow, 20 September 2023, as soon as the text is available.
