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UK: Police move to lighten up on cannabis users

David Tilley

This Is Wimbledon

Thursday 18 Oct 2001

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Cannabis control is no longer a major priority for Wimbledon Police, who
would prefer their time and resources used more effectively.

Supt. Stephen Granger, of Wimbledon Police, made the statement during a
crime debate organised by Wimbledon Civic Forum last week.

The former Lambeth officer said: The 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act which is a
very good act is, nevertheless, based on values from the late 1960s. I am
not proposing legalisation. I was trying to get people to think about the
situation. Social values are changing.

The Home Office is now reviewing the Governments drug strategy.

Supt Granger said he felt the issuing of warnings in Lambeth for cannabis
possession instead of using up valuable police time and resources on
processing and prosecuting was a sensible one for Lambeth.

We need to take stock 30 years down the road, he said.

The meeting heard points from various sides of the drugs debate, including
a 25-year-old drug user who said present policies are not working and
cannabis should be freely available.

As soon as you go to black market sources for cannabis you are going to
find yourself among dealers trying to sell other much more dangerous drugs,
she said.

But anyone can get cannabis. Young people in schools are well aware of it
and use it, like they do alcohol.

Leading local drugs specialist Michael Harrison agreed with the formula.

He said crime was costing society £60 billion a year and 75 per cent of
convicted criminals were drug users.

But he added the real problem lay in hard drugs and the existence of
criminal drug dealers who distributed them.

We tax cigarettes and alcohol so why not cannabis too? he said. The money
raised could be put towards ridding us of hard drugs by getting the pushers
off the streets.

But Dr Mohammed Abu Saleh, a drugs specialist from St Georges Medical
School, warned cannabis was very harmful physically.

 

 

 

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