Prosecutors will not appeal against the decision to wipe a student’s criminal record clean after he was caught with cocaine in a city-centre bar.
Conor McCarthy was given an absolute discharge in July after he admitted being possession of the class-A drug.
The decision meant he was not punished for the offence, nor will it ever appear against his name.
At the time Sheriff William Taylor told Strathclyde University engineering student McCarthy – who is on course to get a first-class degree – that he did not want a criminal record to “blight his future career”.
But north-east Labour MSP Lewis Macdonald said the courts should not treat people favourably because of their background or education.
He said: “It is important the system is even-handed in the way it treats people. An offence is an offence no matter who carries it out. There should be no social prejudices, no matter what, when dealing with these cases.”
The Crown Office had been considering appealing against the sentence on the grounds that it may have been “unduly lenient” but last night a spokesman said the matter would not be taken any further.
He said: “After full and careful consideration of the facts and circumstances in this case, the procurator fiscal decided that there should be no Crown appeal against sentence.”
McCarthy, whose address was given in court papers as Pinelands, 10 Queens Road, Ballater, was spotted acting suspiciously in the toilets of the Tunnels on May 24 and was searched by police officers who suspected him of being in possession of drugs.
He was found with a bag of white power in his hands, which was later found to be cocaine worth £35.
The 21-year-old had been celebrating the end of his exams with friends after returning home to the north-east for the summer.
Sheriff Taylor said: “Having previous convictions for drug offences can blight one’s career in all sorts of ways, I do not want you to have that, and in all the circumstances I grant you an absolute discharge.”