Scottish Conservatives leader Douglas Ross has slammed Nicola Sturgeon’s drug laws, asking whether the First Minister would listen to “the experts and grieving families” as he told a moving story of a woman who lost her brother to drugs abuse. The slamming came after Scotland changed guidance on how to handle "simple possession offences" via a recorded warning. The changes have sparked outrage in the nation, which has the worst drug overdose records across the whole of Europe.

       He went on: “She can't know for sure that it would have saved Stuart, but she told us ‘if we had this bill. I wonder how many people would still be here.'

       “The First Minister was absolutely right to see that we have to move forward at peace.

       “So will she listened to the experts and grieving families?

       “And the proposals we're bringing forward can ensure that that is urgent parliamentary time given to consider the proposals on such an urgent issue.”

       “I think it would be likely that we would want to give that bill a few went-through to Parliament to see whether on the detail we can reach consensus.”

       Officers will now be advised to issue only a ‘recorded police warning’ to anyone they catch in possession of drugs, including Class A heroin and cocaine.

       Drug deaths soared to a record high of 1,339 in Scotland last year, more than three and half times the rate for the rest of the UK.

       Lord Advocate Bain dismissed suggestion the new guidance does not amount to decriminalisation but insisted there is "no one size fits all" response on how to tackle drug addiction.