Editorial - A hash of policing

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Telegraph

Wednesday 28 Mar 2001

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The Telegraph
28 March 2001

Editorial: A hash of policing

Cannabis is to be decriminalised - or so it is claimed. In Brixton, now
the centre of London's drugs trade, anyone stopped by a policeman and
carrying small amounts of cannabis will no longer be arrested, but given
a formal warning on the spot. The drug will then be removed and disposed
of. Of course, this is already common police practice both in the area
and elsewhere, as the Met attempts to stop the trade in more powerful
drugs, such as Crack Cocaine. Cannabis, therefore, is gradually being
decriminalised as the number of users rises. Other illegal drugs will
gradually be treated the same way.

This prompts two thoughts. First, that the government's "zero tolerance"
towards cannabis, like the conservatives' attempt to mimic it last
autumn, is strictly for the gullible tabloids. Not a squeak was to be
heard from Jack Straw yesterday, when the Met issued its statement.
Second, that Brixton should not be the sole beneficiary of
decriminalisation. Why should a man stopped with cannabis at Brixton
tube station escape with a warning, while another, stopped at Mornington
Crescent, is placed under arrest?

Decriminalisation, then, is already happening, and will continue.
However, it is unlikely to succeed if applied only to one small area of
London, however plagued it may be by criminal gangs. We need an
experimental change in the law everywhere; not different sorts of
policing in one place or another.

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