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UK: 'Stop wasting time, money and young people's futures on cannabis convictions' says Devon campaigner NDJDuncan North Devon Journal Thursday 19 Feb 2015 Last year there were 552 convictions for possessing, cultivating and supplying the substance in Devon. IT’S TIME to stop giving North Devon’s young people criminal records for cannabis possession, according to a campaigner. Last year there were 552 convictions for possessing, cultivating and supplying the substance in Devon. Advertisement Such convictions waste resources and leave people with damaging criminal records for using something far less harmful than alcohol or tobacco, according to Devon Cannabis Club chairman Daryl Sullivan. 25-year-old Daryl claims legalisation would protect young people by opening the door to better education and regulation. “A total of 981 warnings, 305 cautions and 1,252 arrests relating to cannabis occurred in Devon in 2014,” he said. “That money and time could be spent policing serious crime instead of dragging someone like Christopher Saunders, an ex-Pride of Britain winner from North Devon, through the court system and charging him with possession of 0.09g of cannabis.” Saunders, from South Molton, was given an unconditional discharge in November last year after he was caught with around nine pence worth of cannabis. According to Daryl, it is “obscene” to waste time and money on such convictions when society is struggling to cope with the Government’s policy of austerity. He questions a common argument against legalisation - that easier access to the drug would mean more young people taking it and getting into trouble. “No one wants kids to be smoking cannabis,” said Daryl. “But a criminal market for drugs offers our young people zero protection. “Dealers don’t ask for ID, there is no quality control, and they have nowhere to turn if they get into trouble for fear of getting into even more trouble - not to mention the fact that prohibition clearly isn’t doing a good job of stopping young people from using cannabis. “The UK has one of the highest rates of teen cannabis use in Europe.” Daryl believes young people would be safer and better educated if cannabis was legal. “No longer would kids simply be told that ‘drugs are bad’ and supposedly be scared into not taking them by the risk of prison,” he said. “Instead we would be able to teach children exactly what cannabis is, use evidence to explain exactly how it affects the body, and offer advice on harm reduction.” Daryl added that regulation and education had reduced the number of young smokers without outlawing cigarettes all together. “At the end of the day strict criminal penalties for drug use do not stop people from experimenting, especially young people,” he concluded. “All laws against cannabis do is needlessly criminalise huge numbers of people, many of them young, for doing something which is far less likely to have a negative effect on their lives than being branded a criminal.” http://www.northdevonjournal.co.uk/Stop-wasting-time-money-young-people-s-futures/story-26051992-detail/story.html
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