City
centre trouble is alcohol-related says campaigner: Are dogs best way to tackle city disorder? Published letter
August 2004
Source: Hull Daily Mail, UK
Pub date: Tuesday, August 17, 2004
Pub LTE : City centre trouble is alcohol-related says campaigner
Author: Carl Wagner
Contact: letters@hulldailymail.co.uk
City centre trouble is alcohol-related says campaigner
Are dogs best way to tackle city disorder?
I didn't know whether to laugh or cry when I read in the Mail that Humberside
police are to use sniffer dogs to catch recreational drug users in Beverley and
Bridlington as "part of a campaign to stop the towns being turned into
crime and disorder hotspots on Saturday nights".
It may come as a surprise, but the screaming women and aggressive young
men vomiting and urinating in doorways, vandalising property and attacking
innocent passers by aren't on illegal drugs. Their behaviour is due to alcohol,
the socially acceptable, taxable drug which, ironically helps pay for the
sniffer dogs, drug raids and heavy-handed police tactics that make sensational
vote-winning headlines about the "war on drugs".
This latest police sniffer dog operation is no more than a PR exercise
designed to show support for a government drugs policy in chaos, and has more
to do with controlling people's personal choices than keeping our streets safe.
Many people are too frightened of drunken yobs attacking them to venture
out on a Saturday night, with some too frightened to go out at all.
These people deserve to know why it's appropriate to pull peaceful pot
smokers from nightclub queues rather than arrest violent drunks.
Carl Wagner, Legalise Cannabis Alliance