![\"Health](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1_DrugsThere-are-many-kinds-of-drugsheroinAddictive-substance.jpg\")
Heroin dealers hit with paltry fines in Scottish courts(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\nThe Sunday Mail can reveal the shockingly lenient punishments being handed out despite 1065 fatalities last year – the highest of any European country.Heroin dealers hit with paltry fines in Scottish courts(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Heroin dealers are receiving average court fine of just \u00a3499 despite Scotland\u2019s drug deaths epidemic<\/a>, we can reveal.<\/p>\n The shockingly lenient punishments are being handed out despite 1065 fatalities last year – the highest of any European<\/a> country.<\/p>\n Meanwhile less than a third of those convicted of dealing offences<\/a> receive a jail sentence according to official figures.<\/p>\n Bereaved families along with politicians and campaigners have reacted furiously and demanded custodial sentences for dealers.<\/a><\/p>\n Linda McVean<\/a>, whose son Frankie died of an overdose, has demanded prison for heroin dealers while Lib Dem MSP Jamie Greene branded the puny penalties \u201cpocket change\u201d.<\/p>\n Linda, 56, lost her son Frankie after he dabbling with the drugs<\/a> while staying at a homeless hostel. She later bought illegal street valium herself to show how pushers were operating with impunity.<\/p>\n Linda said: \u201cI will never get over Frankie\u2019s death, it will stay with me forever and it makes me sick to think these dealers<\/a> are being allowed to sell these deadly drugs more or less openly.<\/p>\n \u201cDrug addicts<\/a> need to be treated with compassion but the dealers are selling death and misery and should face jail.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you walk through the city centre of Glasgow<\/a> you can see deals being carried out in front of your eyes on street corners and it is unacceptable.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is an industry<\/a> that makes millions of pounds for the people at the top – meanwhile thousands of users who end up hooked are dying.<\/p>\n \u201cHow do you possibly think that a fine of less than \u00a3500 is going to put anyone off, it is ridiculous, they can make that back in a day.<\/p>\n \u201cThe police and the courts<\/a> and the government all have a responsibility to make clear that there will be consequences for drug dealing and that it will result in a custodial sentence.\u201d<\/p>\n Linda paid \u00a310 on Glasgow\u2019s<\/a> Argyle Street for 28 street valium pills months after Frankie died in May 2023.<\/p>\n She then made a report to Police Scotland, telling detectives she was disgusted the trade in drugs<\/a> was allowed to go on in full view of shoppers.<\/p>\n When Linda bought the drugs close to Glasgow\u2019s Central Station, she told the dealer: \u201cThese are the same pills that killed my son. You should be ashamed of yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n Linda, from Penilee, Glasgow<\/a>, added: \u201cAt every level this trade is being allowed to continue despite people dying every day.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is ruining thousands of lives, there are families behind every one of these drug<\/a> deaths who will never get over the grief of losing their child or brother or sister, it is utterly tragic.<\/p>\n \u201cThe people responsible for selling drugs need to take responsibility for their actions but that is never going to happen if they are more or less walking free from court even after a conviction.\u201d<\/p>\n Frankie, 30, died while staying at the Queens Park Hotel in Glasgow<\/a>, where several lives have been claimed by drugs.<\/p>\n He was not an addict when he entered the homeless accommodation but dabbled with pills believed to have been sold by low level dealers. His was one of a cluster of deaths at the hotel and Glasgow\u2019s Rennie Mackintosh Station Hotel.<\/p>\n Liberal Democrat MSP<\/a> Greene said: \u201cCommunities are only too familiar with the damage that drug dealers can do to vulnerable people.<\/p>\n \u201cGiven the vast profits and immense misery that heroin can generate, it seems strange that the punishment is a monetary fine of a sum that major players in the drugs business will treat as pocket change.<\/p>\n \u201cNot only that but the punishments for different drugs<\/a> feel totally arbitrary. The law acts like there\u2019s little difference in the harm caused by drugs like heroin and the harm caused by something as common as cannabis.\u201d<\/p>\n The average penalty for possessing heroin with intent to supply was just \u00a3499 in 2022-23 – similar to the typical fine for dealing cannabis of \u00a3485 and \u00a3503 for ecstasy. For cocaine dealing the figure was \u00a3719.<\/p>\n Opioids like heroin are responsible for up to 80 per cent of the nation\u2019s overdose deaths, with 1065 suspected drugs deaths in Scotland last year.<\/a><\/p>\n Drugs campaigner Annemarie Ward, of charity Faces and Voices of Recovery UK, branded the average fines for dealing as the \u201ceffective decriminalisation\u201d of illicit substances.<\/p>\n She said: \u201cWhen dealers for huge criminal gangs who are making millions, arguably billions of pounds in Scotland are getting fined 500 quid, that\u2019s effectively decriminalisation.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThis push and the language we have around decriminalisation, as taking a \u2018public health approach\u2019 and a \u2018compassionate approach\u2019, is rhetoric and posturing and it\u2019s a farce.\u201d<\/p>\n Ward, who says Scotland\u2019s focus on harm reduction measures like Glasgow\u2019s safe injecting facility has come at the expense of drugs rehabilitation and prevention, added: \u201cPerhaps a new government<\/a> in 2026 will tackle this with more balance.\u201d<\/p>\n The Scottish Government<\/a> has stated it wants drug possession to no longer be a criminal offence, although this would require Westminster to change the law.<\/p>\n Drug dealing would continue to be a crime under its proposals.<\/p>\n Convicted drug pushers can face jail, a community sentence or a financial penalty, or a combination under the Scottish justice system.<\/p>\n Some 1489 Scots were successfully prosecuted for drugs possession with intent to supply as their main offence in 2022-23, the latest year for which data is available.<\/p>\n Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today.<\/p>\n You’ll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland.<\/p>\n No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team.<\/p>\n All you have to do is click here if you’re on mobile<\/strong><\/a>, select ‘Join Community’ and you’re in!<\/p>\n If you’re on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click ‘Join Community’.<\/p>\n We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don\u2019t like our community, you can check out any time you like.<\/p>\n To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose ‘exit group’.<\/p>\n![\"Linda](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0_GFM_SDR_300523-Linda-McVean-Frankie-Queens-park-hotel-McHarg-037JPG.jpg\")
Linda McVean who lost her son Frankie to an overdose in 2023(Image: Garry F McHarg Daily Record)<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1_Valium-Tablets.jpg\")
Fake Valium tablets, typical of those flooding Scottish streets(Image: Daily Record)<\/p>\n![\"MSP](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1_JS270723573.jpg\")
MSP Jamie Greene.(Image: Ken Jack\/Getty Images.)<\/p>\n![\"Annemarie](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2_CMP_SDR_280722DrugsProtestParlyFAVOR_12JPG.jpg\")
Annemarie Ward, Favor UK CEO(Image: Daily Record)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/0_WACOMMUNITYQR3.jpg\")
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