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UK: How cannabis creates killers
James Slack and Tom Kelly Daily Mail
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 an= d police adviser warned yesterday. The Reverend George Hargreaves said that youths, smoking the drug with impunity since the law was changed, are being transformed into dangerous ' schizophrenics'. He blamed the decision for the murder of Stevens Nyembo-Ya-Muteba by a gang of thugs after the father-of-two simply asked them to be quiet because he had to get up early 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. Mr Hargreaves, who is the pastor of the Hephzibah Christian Centre in Hackney and sits on two Metropolitan Police committees, 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.' The intervention of such a respected figure will horrify the Government, which has stood by the then Home Secretary David Blunkett's decision to downgrade cannabis from Class B to C in January 2004. The move, which means users escape with a ticking-off rather than being taken to court, was backed by Met commanders and the Association of Chief Police Officers, which was charged with bringing in the change. Mr Hargreaves, who works closely with Met Commissioner Sir Ian Blair's forc= e 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 added: '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 the way that cannabis is handled on the street. What is happening i= s 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, he 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. Mr Hargreaves said: 'He did nothing at all. These were young people who wer= e 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 wor= k tomorrow." They then left the building, then came back, kicked him and stabbed him to death.' He added: 'There is something deeply sick at the heart of our society when someone with so much to offer is hacked down merely for trying to bring a night's peace to his neighbourhood. 'It is all very well for affluent liberals to pretend that cannabis is safe= . But they might feel differently if they had seen aggressive inner-city youths who have been smoking the drug all day and by 10pm are incapable of showing any restraint or inhibitions.' Neighbours yesterday told how their block of flats had been terrorised by drug-taking teenage yobs. 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 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.' 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 i= s dead. Family friend John Mbo Kinu said: 'She won't tell them. They're too young t= o understand.' Veronique and the children were not in at the time of the killing. She is understood to have returned later to find her home cordoned off. 'She was just crying her eyes out,' said a friend who comforted her. 'Crying and crying.' Mr Nyembo-Ya-Muteba's cousin Gilbert Amisi, 49, wept as he told how the family was 'shattered' by the murder. He added: 'Stevens only got his British passport this year. He wanted his children to have a good education in this country. He was such a happy person. 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 i= s acceptable, despite dire evidence it can spark schizophrenia and other mental health problems. A Met Police document, released last month, revealed that 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 =F1 in a staggering 67 per cent of cases =F1 a simple warning. Mr Hargreaves added: 'The modern British establishment has all but given up the fight against drugs and as a result abuse is now widespread among young people. Those of us who work and live in the inner city are now faced with the consequences of a liberal agenda which has destroyed the boundaries of decent behaviour, replacing morality with anarchy.' Four teenagers aged between 15 and 17 have been arrested by police in connection with the attack and are being questioned.
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