One of the things getting me through this Tory leadership contest is the videos of Liz Truss being weird. You’ve probably seen the one in which she says importing cheese is a “disgrace”. The one at the school in which she’s grilled about Boris Johnson is also a classic. One of the pupils summed it up beautifully: awkward.

I would also recommend, in case you haven’t seen it, the video of our possible future Prime Minister being asked in the Commons how to solve the problem of drones flying drugs into prisons. The government is already tackling the issue, she says, by having dogs bark at them. Even her deputy, sitting behind her, has to stifle a smile. What on earth is she on about?

In a way, amusing as they are, these videos sum up one of the major problems with Ms Truss (even though she’s likely to win). Politicians need to be relatable, and likeable if possible, but Ms Truss gives the impression of an A.I. chatbot struggling to emulate human emotions or process normal conversation. Because of the particular nature of this contest, she is also a chatbot with a steering problem: it keeps veering off to the right.

There was a time when it didn’t always look that way with Ms Truss, particularly on crime. In fact, when she was justice secretary, she held out hope of a more sophisticated approach. In one speech, she said she wanted to transform prisons from places of violence and despair to places of self-improvement and hope. “I believe everybody is capable of reform,” she said and proposed reducing the prison population and shorter sentences.

Sadly, it’s unlikely she would repeat something like that now, engaged as she is in a contest with Rishi Sunak to be as right-wing as possible. Anything you can do, I can do righter, they sing to each other in a kind of Tory karaoke competition that probably excludes real reform on prisons, crime and drugs. You may have seen the UK Government’s latest proposal, for example, that people caught using drugs could have their passports and driving licences confiscated. It’s so deaf to the facts, it’s depressing.

The Home Secretary Priti Patel sought to explain the motivation for the plan by saying that “we are cracking down on drug use with tougher consequences for so-called recreational drug users” but this is hopelessly lacking in evidence. We have “cracked down” on drugs for the best part of a century and yet still their use grows. An approach based on punishment hasn’t worked.

Scotland’s drug policy minister Angela Constance made this point the other day when she wrote to the UK crime minister Tom Pursglove about the passport plans. The proposals would be damaging to efforts to resolve the drug crisis north of the border, she said, and in the meantime the Scottish Government was doing all it could to implement an alternative approach based on public health rather than prison and punishment.

It is good to hear the Scottish Government say this – it demonstrates they’re getting it right on the principles of how we should be tackling drugs. No doubt, they’ve also been nudged by the latest report from the Drug Deaths Taskforce in which its chairman David Strang says we cannot “punish people out of addiction”. It’s a splendid report, but even though the Scottish Government is making the right noises, it’s not a vote of confidence in the SNP approach. Far from it.

Effectively, the report concludes that the Scottish Government is getting it right on the tone of its drug policy (which costs nothing of course) but isn’t doing enough to make the necessary changes happen (which costs money of course). On the funding of drug services, the report says it’s woefully inadequate and points out that the First Minister herself acknowledged that her government “took its eye off the ball”. So you might say that the government is finally getting it right but isn’t getting it right enough.

One of the areas that needs radical reform is prison policy. I heard a story recently about a guy, a former drug addict, in Barlinnie who was about to be liberated without having anywhere to go – homeless pretty much. What was likely to happen was that he’d be forced to move back into a community that was densely populated by people who were active in drugs, and the chances were he might slip back into the behaviour that had got him into Barlinnie in the first place.

The answer – and the report makes this point firmly – is to properly join up prison with the outside world, including housing services and education, so that people aren’t effectively tipped out of a cell into chaos. The report also suggests banning all prison releases on a Friday, or the day before a public holiday, so people have a better opportunity to access support. It’s simple stuff like this that can make a difference.

There’s another issue that needs urgent action. What I often hear when I speak to people with experience in this area is that people with drug issues are often subject to a kind of class-based prejudice. If you have a heart attack and you’ve got a bad attitude, or you’re late for an appointment, a doctor isn’t going to cancel your heart operation, but a drug addict who’s late or lippy or whatever will often have their treatment summarily withdrawn. There’s basically a higher behavioural threshold required of addicts and it’s part of the prejudicial, punitive approach which still predominates in Scotland.

The Scottish Government could work to change all of this right now without – I’m pleased to tell them – Scotland becoming an independent country. For a start, they could properly fund support and recovery services – the report makes the simple but powerful point that in 2021/22, the £140.7m funding for alcohol and drugs represents 0.8% of the health budget compared to 1.62% of the population who have a problem with drug use. The SNP could also crack on right now with ensuring all the various services share information better and work together more efficiently to stop that guy from Barlinnie – and others like him – being tipped out into chaos.

This is by no means everything that needs done – in particular, there needs to be more early intervention to identify and support young people before their drug use spirals – but it is certainly a good start that Angela Constance is emphasising public-health principles. What is slightly more worrying is she has asked the UK Government for a detailed response to the Drug Deaths Taskforce report without, as far as I can see, committing to come up with a plan herself within six months, as the report requests.

The test will be what happens next. The test will also be whether the Scottish Government commits to taking action on the report – and spending money to do it. It doesn’t help that Liz Truss may continue to pursue a punitive approach at a UK level but the report couldn’t be clearer in saying that the Scottish Government must focus on what can be done within its powers. Perhaps Mr Pursglove, or someone else, could write to Ms Constance to tell her that. And then perhaps she could get on and do it.

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