British police really don’t care about enforcing cannabis laws

Arrests for possession of cannabis in England and Wales has dropped by a whopping 46 percent since 2010. Busting people for possession and use of weed is increasingly seen as irrelevant in the face of crimes such as murder and child abuse.

As the legalisation debate plods on, and as the US, UK and other countries around the world decide that marijuana is not really so bad after all and that it should be regulated, not banned, police in Britain are showing that they have more sense than lawmakers when it comes to cannabis.

Funding the war on drugs has wasted millions of dollars globally, dollars that could have been better spent on law enforcement for serious crimes. Perhaps realising this, police chiefs in Durham, Derbyshire, Surrey and Dorset are no longer going to great lengths to go after cannabis smokers or small, back-garden cannabis farms.

For example, Durham Chief Constable Mike Barton was asked around a year ago if it would be seen as acceptable to smoke or grow weed, in view of the fact that cannabis users would no longer be targeted or investigated, the constable replied that he was not “condoning drug use”, but added that the more relaxed attitude enabled his staff to deal with more important things.

The war on drugs does not work. People are not going to stop using marijuana, so instead of banning the substance, it certainly makes more sense to explore regulation options that would reduce the harm caused to the ones using them, and the ones users come into contact with. For example, exploring the regulations that should be implemented if someone was driving while stoned.

As well as that decrease in arrests, cautions dropped by 48 percent and charges fell by 33 percent. However, it would seem that hat sharp decrease in policing and prosecuting has nothing to do with a drop in usage: Crime Survey data suggests that, from 2010 to 2015, cannabis use remained roughly the same.

Sources:

http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/psychoactive-substances-act-delay

http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/police-cannabis-legalisation-drop-arrests-uk

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3177990/Top-officer-says-police-force-giving-cannabis-Chief-says-cracking-dope-never-priority.html