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UK: Cannabis downgrading blamed for psychotic killer gangs by vicar
thisislondon
Wednesday 04 Oct 2006 Labour's decision to downgrade cannabis has filled youths with a 'lawless bravado' which turns them into potential killers, a senior church figure and police advisor warned yesterday. Rev George Hargreaves said youths, smoking the drug with impunity since the law was changed, were being transformed into dangerous 'schizophrenics'. He blamed the decision for the murder of Stevens Nyembo-Ya-Muteba by a gang of thugs the father-of-two had asked to be quiet because he had to work the next day. The 40-year-old was stabbed repeatedly in the chest outside the door of his home in Hackney, east London, at 10pm on Sunday by members of the gang, believed to have been smoking strong 'skunk' cannabis throughout the day. Rev Hargreaves, who sits on two Metropolitan Police bodies, said: 'At the heart of this is a drug culture that has beset our community. We are talking about a brand of cannabis that sends young people schizophrenic.' 'When they use it, there is a lawless bravado. Combine that lawless bravado with a knife, with an altered state of mind, and you get murder.' 'We bury the dead, we don't just see it, we counsel the grieving families, we see it on our streets.' The intervention of such a respected figure will horrify the Government, which has stood by then Home Secretary David Blunkett's decision to downgrade cannabis from Class C to B in January 2004. The move, which means users escape with a ticking-off rather than being hauled to court, was backed by Met commanders and the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), which was charged with bringing in the change. Rev Hargreaves, who works closely with Sir Ian Blair's force on a Safer Communities committee and also chairs its stop-and-search consultative committee, said the decision had been utterly wrong. The Oxford University-educated pastor said: 'I have to say I'm frustrated, because I do work closely with the police but they're not hearing the message.' 'The worst thing that happened to the community was when Acpo changed, dumbed down as it were, the way that cannabis is handled on the street.' 'We want them to face the judge. What is happening is a message is being sent to our young people that it's OK.' Mr Nyembo-Ya-Muteba, a dedicated family man whose daughters are aged only five and six, had complained to police and the council about youths gathering outside the family home. On Sunday evening, the 40-year-old made the fatal mistake of asking 12 youths, who are understood to have been smoking cannabis for most of the day, to keep the noise down. Within minutes, he was dead. Rev Hargreaves said: 'He did nothing at all. We have to place this in the context that these were young people who were engaged in illegally smoking cannabis, making a raucous noise.' 'Stevens came out, as any one of us would have done, and said: 'Listen guys, it's late, can you pipe down. I've got to get to bed, I've got to go to work tomorrow?' 'They then left the building, then came back, kicked him and stabbed him to death.' Neighbours yesterday told how their block of flats had been terrorized by teenage yobs who turned into a 'drugs den.' Gangs of boys and girls aged between 14 and 18 regularly broke into the stairwell, making the residents' lives a misery. One neighbour, who knew 40-year-old Mr Nyembo-Ya-Muteba, said: 'It has been a nightmare for the last two years.' 'They use it as a drugs den. Normally it's cannabis, but sometimes even worse with foil for crack.' 'They even sleep out there and have sex. I've often found condoms. They sit on the stairs abusing you. Another of my neighbours was spat at.' 'I used to talk to Stevens several times about the problem but nothing was ever done.The police were called many times but often they didn't bother coming out. I haven't seen them since the beginning of the year.' She said the housing association fitted a extra strength steel door to the front of the building because the old one kept getting broken down by the thugs. They also fitted CCTV cameras, but the security measures failed to prevent the youths getting in. Another neighbour, Hayri Kilicarslan, 35, said youths caused trouble across the estate, urinating on the floor and smoking drugs. 'People are always complaining, but nothing changes, They climb onto people's balconies too - you can't do anything.' Meanwhile it emerged that that Mr Nyembo-Ya-Muteba's devastated widow Veronique had still not told the couple's two daughters that their father is dead. Family friend John Mbo Kinu said: 'She won't tell them. They're too young to understand. Stevens was such a nice guy, a regular churchgoer. He didn't trouble anybody.' Mr Nyembo-Ya-Muteba's distraught cousin Gilbert Amisi, 49, wept as he told how the family was 'shattered' by the murder. 'Stevens only got his British passport this year, and he was so happy. He wanted his children to have a good education in this country.' He said Mr Nyembo-Ya-Muteba was born in the Katanga province of the Congo, where his father was a company director. He moved to the country's capital to attend secondary school and went on to study mechanics there. He met Veronique while she was studying in the city and the couple later married. But in 1998 he fled to Britain to escape the violence and the region. His wife followed in 1999 and they lived together, first in Edmonton, North London, before settling in a two bedroom flat in Hackney. He began studying maths but worked part time to support himself, first as a chef then in the Tesco depot. After completing an Access course at a local college he was offered a place at Cambridge University, but turned it down to take up a place to read maths and finance at the Brighton University, where he studied three days a week. He left in 2005 and is believed to have transferred to a university in London nearer his home. Mr Amisi said: 'He was such a happy person. Always smiling and happy whenever he was with his family. Why did this happen?' The justification for downgrading cannabis was that police should be given more time to concentrating on harder drugs, such as crack and heroin. By giving those with the drug a formal warning, rather than arresting them, there is less paperwork for officers or time spent in court. But critics say the decision has sent out a message that smoking the drug is acceptable, despite dire evidence it can spark schizophrenia and other mental health problems. A Met Police document, released last month, laid bare the extent of its reluctance to take firm action against cannabis users. Only 15 per cent of people caught with the drug are being charged with a crime since the January 2004 law change. The rest were given either a caution or - in a staggering 67 per cent of cases - a simple warning. The Met's report declared the soft policy a 'success'. In an astonishing admission, it said letting-off more than 30,000 drug takers with a warning was good for 'police/public relations.' By not bothering to arrest the criminals, officers were having a 'positive effect in reducing friction between young people and the police.' http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/
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