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UK: Drugs boom hits 'soft policing' streets Graham Duffill and David Brown The Sunday Times Sunday 26 May 2002 BRITAIN'S most senior policeman in charge of drug policy has accused the white middle classes behind the drive to decriminalise cannabis of ignorance. Michael Fuller, head of the Metropolitan police drugs directorate, suggested last week that many of those urging the home secretary to downgrade cannabis to a class C drug had a rose-tinted view of drug taking. Fuller, a deputy assistant commissioner, spoke out following a home affairs select committee report last week which recommended that possessing cannabis should no longer be an arrestable offence. He said that while a pilot scheme in the Brixton area of London had been welcomed by almost half its white residents, it had failed in the eyes of black and Asian residents, the vast majority of whom opposed it. 'They (the white middle classes) don't always experience the worst aspects of drug abuse and drug taking,' said Fuller, who is one of the country's most senior black policemen. 'A lot of black and Asian communities are living among this and witness the drugs paraphernalia, hear the shootings, see kids sitting around smoking joints in the streets, experience people offering them drugs and jostling them in the street.' Fuller's comments follow the 'Lambeth experiment', a six-month trial in which police issued informal warnings to those caught with cannabis instead of arresting them. The project has created a 'mini- Amsterdam' in Brixton, with drug dealers now openly selling drugs on the streets. A recent Mori poll found that while nearly half the white residents supported the change, only 28% of black and 25% of Asian residents were in favour. Chris Claudius, 32, a record producer from Brixton, is one of those campaigning to have the drugs regime reversed. 'This trial has benefited two groups - the police, who have fewer people to arrest, and the dealers, who don't get hassled so much,' he said. 'What has happened is you are getting people from all over London coming here to buy drugs. There have always been a few street dealers but it's gone mad now.' His concerns were reflected by the Rev Chris Andre-Watson, of Brixton Baptist church, who claimed children as young as 12 were arriving at school stoned: 'The children are waking up at 7am, then meeting their friends and smoking before school. They will take a joint into school and have a smoke at lunch.' Since the Lambeth experiment was started by the police commander Brian Paddick, now himself under investigation after allegations that he smoked the drug at home, drug-dealing offences have risen by 11% and recorded cases of cannabis possession by 34%. Last week The Sunday Times counted 30 drug dealers working a half-mile stretch of Brixton's Coldharbour Lane, many selling ecstasy and speed as well as cannabis. Evening commuters at Brixton station were met by cries of: 'Weed, hash, skunk? It's top quality. What do you want to pay?' One dealer, working 250 yards from Brixton police station, said: 'The police don't bother us unless there has been some trouble. I have just enough for one sale so the police can't touch us (for dealing). When I have sold it I will get some more.' There are six shops in Brixton that sell cannabis, but they complain street dealers are taking the bulk of the business. There are fears that violence will soon erupt between rival gangs. Fuller said Britain would suffer a range of drug-related problems if the Lambeth experiment was extended nationwide. 'I think we will see some undesirable aspects such as groups of kids sitting around smoking cannabis and a proliferation of cannabis cafes,' he said. He said Brixton was already going the way of Holland: more children were experimenting with drugs at a younger age, stronger cannabis was appearing and dealers were coming into the area offering an array of hard drugs. The only benefits were a reduction in police time spent processing drug offenders and fewer confrontations between police and dealers. Though the object of the exercise was to use the police time saved to combat class A drugs, Fuller said it was absorbed into 'general police activity'. 'I think it is important that officers retain the power of arrest in certain cases and there is a sanction against cannabis use,' he said. A YouGov poll for The Sunday Times shows a majority support the decriminalisation of cannabis but are against liberalising the law on other drugs. By 54% to 42%, those questioned agreed that possession of cannabis should no longer be a criminal offence, with those under 30 two to one in favour. On ecstasy, however, 73% were against downgrading it from a class A to a class B drug, with only 23% for it. Those surveyed also dismissed the Commons committee's view that drug use by young people did little harm. By 73% to 17%, people believed long-term damage was inflicted by drug use.
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