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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: We're losing war so legalise drugs
The Daily Post (Wales)
Thursday 30 Jan 2003 RICHARD Brunstrom believes current drugs policy is fuelling Britain's gun culture. In an exclusive interview with the Daily Post, Mr Brunstrom said police were losing their war on drugs and the law was merely encouraging organised criminals to arm themselves to protect their big-money empires. And he suggested the law on drugs was "an ass". Mr Brunstrom said officers were powerless to contain the growing North Wales drug trade, a problem he claimed was shared by forces across the UK. He said the way to win the war was to legalise and control drugs and make them socially unacceptable. He also admitted his view was radical and called for "a proper public debate about what we think is the best solution for our society". "This is not a police problem - it is a society problem," he said. But he added he would continue to uphold the law even if he disagreed with it. "If I found my children taking drugs I would take them down to the nearest police station and have them dealt with because it is against the law," he said. Liverpool is one of the three largest drug distribution points in the UK - with London and Bristol - and the problem filters along the North Wales coast. In the last eight months North Wales Police have made 31pc more arrests for possession of drugs and 12pc more arrests for possession of Class A drugs. Mr Brunstrom said: "We are doing our bit to tackle the drugs trade but it is not enough, it isn't working, and we are fighting a war we are not winning. "There is no possibility of us in the UK containing the drugs trade by arresting the offenders. "My view as a police officer is the current regime is untenable and it is not going to be successful any more than controlling alcohol was through prohibition in the US." He said the law as it stood at the moment encouraged crime to prosper. "We are making it easy for organised crime," he said. "We are persuading people to buy guns and protect their investment because there is so much money to be made from the drugs trade. "We are turning people who want to abuse their bodies into criminals. Why should they be criminals? Why should we force them to mug my granny for money in order to abuse their bodies? We are making it worse not better." Mr Brunstrom said by legalising drugs crime would go down, there would be no profit to be made from the trade and society could concentrate on making it socially unacceptable. He said: "The solution to the drugs problem, which is a very large problem indeed for our society, even here in North Wales, is a change in society. "It is to show people taking drugs is a stupid thing to do and to do what we have done with alcohol and driving. "When I was young drink-driving was socially acceptable. I have an 18-year-old daughter who would not dream of drinking and driving because it is totally unacceptable. "There has to be effective enforcement as part of this but effective enforcement is not going to cut off the head of drugs trade. That is going to come from persuading users not to do it. "Look what we have done in our society to tobacco in the last 50 years - tobacco use is dropping sharply because we are persuading people not to be a mug. "We should do the same with drugs - let's make illegal drugs socially unacceptable."
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