Health charities in Scotland are calling on General Election candidates to back their push for drug law reform.

In a joint letter to all prospective parliamentary candidates, the five charities - HIV Scotland, Waverley Care, The Hepatitis C Trust, Terrence Higgins Trust Scotland, and the Hwupenyu Project - ask them to endorse a new approach to drug policy.

They want candidates to publicly support a change to treating drug misuse in Scotland as a public health problem rather than a criminal justice issue in a bid to tackle drug deaths.

Candidates are asked to consult on decriminalising small amounts of drugs for personal use and to amend legislation or devolve powers to enable a pilot drug consumption room in Glasgow.

The charities want candidates to work with the Scottish Government to put in place an evidence-based drugs policy which addresses the underlying causes of problem drug use such as poverty, homelessness and inequality.

The letter requests candidates promote appropriate and non-stigmatising language when discussing drugs, and challenge misrepresentation.

The letter highlights the 1,187 drug-related deaths in Scotland last year - nearly triple the rate of the UK as a whole.

Nathan Sparling, HIV Scotland chief executive, said: "Over the last 10 years, drug deaths have increased by over 400%.

This is not a distant threat; this is a present danger. "As well as fuelling the HIV and hepatitis C epidemic, drug criminalisation has condemned a whole swathe of marginalised communities to the criminal justice system when what they need is compassion and succour.

"Decriminalisation is not a radical idea; it's an analysis of evidence and international precedent. "By taking an evidence-based, public health approach to drug policy, we can have open, destigmatised action, not hyperbole or criminality."