Tracking low-level cannabis use wastes police time, former London chief says

26 comments

1. Imagine being high all day just drugging your yourself for no reason at all.

2. Whys it always a former person who talks sense, can’t we have an active person say this shit?

3. They didn’t even really bother 25 years ago. I got caught smoking in the park with almost half a oz of hash. The police just told me to throw it as far as I could into the woods. We looked for that lump in the pitch dark for a good hour.

4. Tracking anyone who chooses to put any drug in their body is a waste of time for a an organisation funded by our taxes

5. They should have legalised it decades ago, it’d make money, reduce gang activity and could be regulated which would help a lot of people with long term pain as well as cashing in on recreational use.

6. Just legalise it already. Tax it like alcohol and nicotine to generate revenue for the government.

   Drug crime statistics will also decrease just due to not needing to follow up on cannabis seizures.

7. Frustrating part really is that the smell is held up as the major reason not to allow it to proliferate – As if it didn’t already permeate most of our city and town centers 24/7 anyway – When actually in all of the current legal markets the fastest growing and most widely consumed form is edibles and increasingly drinks, which would actually fit in really well with our existing social culture imo.

8. It’s so crazy that it’s an actual crime to smoke weed

9. Cannabis prohibition as a whole is an unaffordable disaster.

10. well no shit – if you haven’t got the resources to investigate burglary or bike theft then you don’t have them to bother someone for a bit of puff. Why not legalise it, tax it and put that extra revenue into policing serious crimes

11. Unfortunately the alcohol manufacturers don’t want it, and they grease a lot of pockets

12. Going after the landlords and businesses renting and laundering the cash is just too much like hard work 🤔

13. It’s remarkable that the UK maintains even more reactionary drug policies than the US, where many states have begun legalising cannabis. Yet both the Conservatives and Labour remain committed to decades of failed drug policy… seemingly more concerned with appeasing Daily Mail readers than addressing public health or evidence-based reform.

14. This year marks 30 years of daily use — and 30 years of keeping it hidden. Hidden from my family, my doctor, and anyone in authority, just in case it blows up my life. Maybe that means I’m addicted. But the truth is, I really enjoy it. The calm, the clarity, the hyperfocus — it’s a part of my mind I’ve come to value.

    I could stop, sure. But I’d be giving up something that feels like a core part of how I function best. I don’t smoke it, so there’s no smell — I’ve used vaporizers or edibles since 2005. I don’t get so high I can’t function. In fact, no one even knows.

    So where’s the harm?

    Except… I know there is harm. I’m funding crime. I’m risking my health with whatever’s in it. I’m breaking the law. And I’m pretending that doesn’t matter. That’s the part that makes me feel like a hypocrite.

15. Most police where I live don’t really care about personal use. Had a welfare check for myself the other night, and I forgot I had my bong and like 20 joints on the coffee table, and they just shrugged when I noticed & pointed it out. As long as you’re not selling or growing, you’re usually fine.

16. DUUHHHHH NO SHIT BIG BRAIN

    Why the everloving fuck are we still so far behind when it comes to legalisation? We love to pretend we’re quite progressive as a nation but then still treat cannabis as the same class substance as Ket and Spice, which carries a 5 year sentence for possession. Embarrassing as fuck.

17. It’s such a weird British thing that we’re so against this despite how well specifically cannabis decriminalisation has been elsewhere.

    I’m not advocating for American style weed shops but there was like 30000 odd arrests in London alone for possession of cannabis in either 22/23 or 23/24 can’t remember the year. What a waste of time that is considering the austerity police have gone through

18. Tracking low level use can indicate changes in supply and demand. It can also pick-up different strengths and overall use in an area.

19. The only reason it is illegal is for big pharma to continue to protect their profit margins. Theresa May’s husband pharmaceutical company (GW pharmaceuticals) makes a cannabis derived drug for children with epilepsy.. They want it to stay illegal so that that they can kill the competition.. It’s very difficult to get the license to produce cannabis for medicinal purposes so it’s agains their interest to legalise it.

20. If I were a police officer I would rather weed be legal. The more people smoking instead of getting black out drunk at the weekend, the better for them probably

21. Legalize it or properlyenforce the ban.

    The middle ground of “technically illegal, but never enforced unless a policeman doesn’t like the look of your face” is just stupid.

22. Episode 19923873763 of British organisations finally stating the obvious.

23. The anti cannabis laws are there purely to pacify the Daily Heil readers and curtain twitchers of middle England. Common sense is being held to ransom by the permanently angry.

24. We are honestly the weirdest country, you can go to Hyde Park on 4/20 and smoke all you want no issue. If you’re caught with a little you probably won’t get in shit they may just confiscate. You can Google websites to buy it from and don’t get me started on Telegram. They clearly don’t really care and/or have to resources to tackle it. Legalising it would solve a lot of issues and produce a good income stream for the country, but no we just sit in the weird spot where unless you’re carrying loads noone actually cares. But it *is* illegal

25. Allowing people to grow a pan t or two for themselves without fear of being caught could end the need for dealers.

26. When police have to deal with people complaining that burgleries and assaults and whatnot get solved, I’m sure the police have better things to do than nick someone for personal possession

    In fact, the amount of times I smell it passing people in the street smoking would lead me to believe it’s pretty much unofficially legal anyway

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