The Scottish Government is calling for the decriminalisation of all drugs for personal supply.
SNP Minister Elena Whitham said the “ambitious and radical proposals” would save lives.
The Daily Record has a long running campaign to tackle Scotland's shamefully high drugs death rates.
In a new document, the Government outlines measures it believes could be taken now, or through further devolution or independence.
The proposals include decriminalisation of all drugs for personal supply progressed as part of a wider review of drug laws.
The Government said this move would allow people found in possession of drugs to be "treated and supported rather than criminalised and excluded".
They also want “immediate legislative changes” to introduce drug consumption facilities.
Whitham said: “These are ambitious and radical proposals, grounded in evidence, that will help save lives.
“We want to create a society where problematic drug use is treated as a health, not a criminal matter, reducing stigma and discrimination and enabling the person to recover and contribute positively to society.
"While we know these proposals will spark debate, they are in line with our public health approach and would further our national mission to improve and save lives.”
The shift was also ruled out by Labour, with shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves telling journalists during a visit to Scotland: “The short answer is no.
“I don’t think this sounds like a good policy.
“I find it quite stunning that this would be a priority for the Scottish Government when we’re here today talking about the Tory mortgage bombshell and what we would do to address that.
“We’re here meeting people training to do jobs in the industries of the future.
“We’ve got more than 700,000 people in Scotland on NHS waiting lists – pick an issue.”
Tory MSP Russell Findlay said: "It is madness to try and solve Scotland's drug death crisis, the worst in Europe, by essentially legalising heroin, crack and other class-A drugs.
“This would put more drugs on our streets. It would put more lives at risk. What kind of message is the SNP sending to Scotland's drug-ravaged communities?
"These proposals are not radical, they are reckless.
"Humza Yousaf is disgracefully playing politics with people's lives and using his government’s drug deaths tragedy as the latest way of picking a fight with the UK government. Instead, he should back the Scottish Conservative Right to Recovery bill to tackle Scotland’s shameful record drug deaths.”
Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: “Scottish Liberal Democrats have been calling for the decriminalisation of drug misuse for years. We have set out clear plans to get people into treatment instead of prison, for drug testing facilities and for a network of safe consumption spaces. It is well established that the Scottish Government has not been maximising the powers it has to stop people dying.
“Scotland has a drugs death rate three times that of anywhere else in the UK or in Europe. If this were all about where different powers lie, Glasgow would not have a drugs death rate ten times higher than London. Nicola Sturgeon acknowledged she took her eye off the ball, tens of millions were cut from essential services and the SNP Justice Secretary at the time of the independence referendum admitted they chose to look away.
"Scotland has a particularly problematic relationship with drug misuse. That is not a product of a deficiency of devolution, but if tailoring a particularly Scottish solution might require the extension of powers on drug policy then I am open to that discussion.
“If the Scottish Government is at last serious about reform, this will take detailed work both here in Scotland and in partnership with colleagues across the UK and beyond. I would hate for meaningful progress to be locked behind years of wrangling over where powers sit.
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