ON MAY 6, Sir William Rae, the Chief Constable of Strathclyde Police, featured in Scotland on Sunday's On The Spot interview. I asked the question: "Are you satisfied in the standard of police investigation into drug overdose deaths?" Mr Rae stated he was. On August 30 it was revealed that 421 people died in Scotland from drug overdose in 2006. The highest number of deaths were in the Glasgow area.

The Crown Office has confirmed that if it can be proved who supplied drugs illegally in a drug overdose death the supplier can be charged with culpable homicide. To my knowledge no one has been charged with culpable homicide in respect of any of the overdose deaths in 2006 and only a handful have ever been charged with this crime in Scotland in spite of there having been thousands of such deaths over the years. The police will tell you that all overdose deaths are investigated. They will deny that such deaths are treated as a sort of involuntary suicide and no real effort is made to find suppliers. The arrest figures of suppliers tell a different story and I would suggest if Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill instructs all chief constables to record all such deaths as a culpable homicide, and show if arrests were made, the deaths will decrease.

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