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UK: Officer backs legalisation

ITN

Channel 4 News Online

Sunday 18 May 2003

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One of Scotland Yard's most senior officers said he would have "no
problems" decriminalising all drugs. He also said officers were wasting
their time policing cannabis.

Chief Superintendent Anthony Wills retired last week after six years as
borough commander of Hammersmith and Fulham in west London in charge of
2,000 officers.

Mr Wills said he was opposed to drug-taking but accepted people were
going to take drugs so they should do so "safely, with a degree of
purity and in a controlled way".

And he said he had a "very liberal" attitude to possession of drugs,
equating smoking cannabis to getting drunk.

Mr Wills said: "I would have no problems with decriminalising drugs full
stop."

He said "stringent measures" are needed over drug production and supply
and the market needed to be removed from the dealers.

But he stressed: "I do not want people to take drugs but if they are
going to, I want them to take them safely, with a degree of purity and
in a controlled way."

Mr Wills, who has two teenage children and served as a police officer
for 30 years before his retirement, said he did not want his own
children taking drugs but if they wanted to, the reality was there was
little he could do to stop them.

He added: "I am very liberal in relation to possession of drugs.
Policing cannabis is a waste of our time as I do not feel the effects of
cannabis are any worse than over-consumption of alcohol."

The remarks may fuel the debate over how police deal with drugs and the
law surrounding cannabis.

It is understood Mr Wills' remarks were his personal views on the
possession of drugs and he supported the Metropolitan Police's policies
while a serving officer.

But he wanted to "field ideas" for a national debate on how to deal with
drugs in the future.

 

 

 

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