The Cops Took My Pot Can I Grow Again
Two police commissioners accept said they no longer expect officers to chase people growing cannabis for personal apply.
Alan Charles, the police and crime commissioner for Derbyshire, and Ron Hogg, his counterpart in Durham, accept said their forces have more important priorities than investigating modest growers.
A tertiary commissioner, Martyn Underhill of Dorset, has expressed support for Hogg's opinion, which was widely reported. He said he was taking the outcome of cannabis laws upward with local MPs and police.
While cannabis campaigners have hailed the moves, drugs policy analysts say the remarks brand explicit longstanding views inside some police forces.
But they come up among a government crackdown on drug employ. A new bill was recently introduced that would ban all psychoactive drugs, except those specifically exempted.
Charles told the Guardian on Midweek that thrift cuts to police force budgets had forced the Derbyshire force to reassess its priorities. "Our summit priority must be those people at risk [of abuse or violence]," he said.
"When nosotros are moving resource into that it does mean that nosotros tin't keep policing every single issue as we have washed in the past. If people are using cannabis discreetly in their own homes, in private, I would not expect the chief to make that a priority."
He said the force would e'er target organised criminals producing large quantities of drugs. Only, he added: "If you lot are talking about people growing a couple of cannabis plants at home on the window sill, I would non expect Derbyshire police to prioritise that."
Charles spoke afterward it emerged police force in Durham were adopting a lite-impact approach to people caught growing cannabis for personal use. Hogg said the move was an effort to cutting costs while focusing resource on organised crime. But he also said that another reason for it was to keep users out of the criminal justice organization.
"The focus of what we are trying to practise is target those who produce drugs on a larger scale," he said. "Our communities desire u.s. to focus on drug dealers in the streets. They don't want dealers in the streets at the same time equally their children are playing.
"Information technology's illegal to grow and use cannabis and we will however enforce the law. However, what nosotros will attempt and do is engage with users and assistance them if that's what they desire."
The policy was first revealed in a meeting two weeks ago between Hogg and activists from local capacity of the UK Cannabis Social Clubs. In that location Hogg confirmed rumours that Durham law were no longer actively working to detect small-scale cannabis growers and users, according to John Vacation, a local activist.
Holiday – non his existent name – said Hogg was clear that the policy was not intended as a complimentary-for-all. He said: "Information technology's still illegal. If you were to low-cal up in front of a policeman or go into a police station and tell them y'all've got a 10-bag you would still be arrested.
"The idea is discretion: don't piss off your neighbours.
The move followed a drug policy briefing hosted by Hogg terminal November. Following the summit, Hogg wrote a alphabetic character to the prime government minister with a warning that current drug laws were failing. "Policy on drug habit should be moved to the Department of Health, in order for the focus to be on treating rather than punishing," Hogg's letter said.
Charles held a similar issue in Derbyshire last calendar month, with Hogg as a speaker. Days afterwards, he wrote to Theresa May, the home secretary, to call for a comprehensive review of drug laws.
"I've not had a response to my alphabetic character, information technology's been a calendar month now," Charles said. "That doesn't surprise me because it would be a difficult nettle for her to grasp. Simply someone has to."
In January, Underhill will become the third commissioner to concord a similar upshot. He would non annotate on Dorset police's strategy without speaking first to the chief, who was away on holiday. Simply he issued a written argument backing Hogg.
"I really admire the work that [Hogg] is doing in raising this fence about the decriminalisation of cannabis in various forms, such as personal or medicinal use," Underhill said. "I am discussing both issues currently with local MPs and Dorset police. It is for this reason that I am property a drugs conference in January 2016."
Steve Rolles, senior policy analyst at the Transform Drug Policy Foundation, said the commissioners' comments had brought into the open up views that have long been privately held past some officers. But he warned that cannabis users could now face a postcode lottery when it came to enforcement.
"Some commissioners and chief constables have a different view, which puts the interesting and unsustainable position that depending on where you lot live in the UK you may get a prosecution or you may get a slap on the wrist," he said.
Neil Woods, vice-chair of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (Leap) United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland, welcomed the moves. He said that although law officials prioritised their officers' piece of work all the time, Hogg was "quite assuming to word it in the mode that he is doing".
Wood, a former hole-and-corner drugs detective, said it was likely drug crime could get less attention from police forced to reassess priorities every bit budgets were pared back in the name of thrift. The last government slashed the police budget by around 26% in five years, at a cost of 35,000 officers. More cuts are expected under the new government.
Woods said: "If you consider that a taxpayer pays £400 towards fighting the war on drugs in this land, the financial pressures are going to accept usa in that location."Information technology's an important, small, incremental footstep in the right direction. I think information technology's necessary and I'k pleased that they are brave enough to very publicly brand this stride.
"I applaud their move. No one should ever be criminalised for drug possession."
Lady Meacher, chairwoman of the all-parliamentary group on drug policy reform, said: "It must be hoped that other police commissioners will follow this of import lead. Young people volition be safer if they can avoid the drug dealers, and sick people needing cannabis to salve their symptoms will be able to grow it. Better nevertheless if cannabis on prescription were to be legalised."
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Source: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/jul/22/police-wont-target-pot-smokers-small-scale-growers-commissioners
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