|
Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
|
|
Police ignore cannabis dealers in attempt to crack down on hard drugs
Murdo MacLeod and Poppy Mitchell-Rose Scotland on Sunday
Saturday 11 Aug 2001 concentrate on heroin and cocaine, the Scottish Executive confirmed last night. Official figures obtained by Scotland on Sunday reveal that while police forces are confiscating ever-increasing amounts of 'Class A' drugs, including heroin, seizures of "soft" drugs have fallen by up to 90%. Although ministers have refused to tone down their official line on cannabis, behind the scenes they have encouraged chief constables to throw their full resources into the battle against hard drugs. An Executive spokesman admitted: "There has been a change in policy. All forces are now targeting hard drugs as the main priority rather than other substances. Targets are set in terms of seizing Class A drugs. "It does not mean we are completely ignoring Class B drugs, but Class A drugs have been identified as the most pressing area for urgent action." Bill Aitken, Scottish Conservative deputy spokesman on law and order, reacted with fury to the figures. He said: "It would appear from the derisory seizure for class B drugs that the Executive is largely turning a blind eye to the use of so-called soft drugs such as cannabis. This clearly demonstrates that its current approach of simply talking tough on drugs is not working." He added: "There is clear evidence that cannabis is a gateway drug that leads users into abuse of even more dangerous drugs such as crack cocaine and heroin. The evidence that we are losing this war at present can be seen in the streets, the courts, the hospitals and in communities throughout Scotland. These new figures are themselves a damning admission from the Executive of the impotence of its own approach." The figures, which were published by the Scottish Executive last week, show that since 1998 police forces north of the Border have dramatically changed their focus from soft to hard drugs. In 1997, Scottish officers seized pounds30.1m worth of class B drugs and pounds2.3m worth of class A drugs, a pattern which the forces continued to follow in 1998, as pounds42.9m of soft drugs and pounds5.5m of harder substances were held. However, in 1999, the last year for which Scotland-wide figures are available, the picture was dramatically reversed. Officers seized pounds16.4m of hard drugs and just pounds4.5m of soft drugs. Latest figures from individual forces confirm police are continuing to place less emphasis on soft drugs in their day-to-day inquiries. The latest figures from Tayside show that the amount of cannabis seized fell by 60% while the amount of heroin recovered increased 20-fold - from over popunds300,000 in 1999 to pounds111,000 worth of drugs in 2000. Meanwhile, the value of heroin confiscated soared from pounds8,500 to pounds182,000. Figures from Strathclyde Police, Scotland's largest force, show seizures of soft drugs continue to fall as a proportion of total drugs confiscated. In 1998, 29% of all drugs seized were soft drugs. By 1999 that figure had fallen to 10%, and last year only 6% of all drugs held were soft drugs. Linda Hendry, the Scottish spokesperson for the Campaign to Legalise Cannabis, said: "This is another demonstration of why cannabis should be legalised. It is now more and more random whether people will be prosecuted for using cannabis. That means that those who do happen to be prosecuted are even more victimised than before." But the go-easy policy on cannabis has not been put into practice throughout Scotland. Biz Ivol, of St Margaret's in Orkney, who famously sends MS-sufferers chocolates containing the drug as a palliative, was last week raided by Orkney police. She condemned the inconsistency in the law as it stands. She said: "It's just crazy. They turn a blind eye to it in one place and here they are clamping down on us for trying to help other people get over pain. It's a scandal."
After you have finished reading this article you can click here to go back.
|
This page was created by the Cannabis Campaigners' Guide.
Feel free to link to this page!