Law enforcement on cannabis is “pathetically weak” and has been for years. That is according to Alison Hernandez, the Conservative Party Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) for Devon and Cornwall.
This has, in fact, been clear for decades. In his 2012 book on “the British Establishment’s Surrender to Drugs,” Peter Hitchens responded to the claim that cannabis and other substances ought to be legalised because the ‘war on drugs’ has failed by arguing that this was The War We Never Fought. He showed that officials long ago stopped enforcing the law against those found in possession of cannabis—that is, found breaking the law. The worst many users could fear was being dealt a ‘cannabis warning,’ which does not constitute a criminal record and need not be declared to employers.
The argument was dismissed then. It still is by some, though most recognise that cannabis is de facto legal. So much so, in fact, that PCC Hernandez said “a lot of people think it already is legal.” Now, she added, there is a permanent and “absolute stink” across Britain’s streets, yet the issue gets “ignored.”
PCC Hernandez observed:
The focus has not been on tackling the absolute stink of that in our streets. Across the country, it hasn’t been the focus of law enforcement for decades. There’s been a real move away from that and an obsession with the public health approach to drugs and actually sometimes you need an enforcement approach.
The problem, said Hitchens in response to this news, was that this is “one opinion among hundreds of senior figures in policing who cannot see it or actively dispute it.”
Not only this; PCC Hernandez is a member of the Tory party—under whose ‘watch’ this issue has got more and more out of control—and is a particular fan of David Cameron, who has been supportive of softer drug laws.
The commissioner is reportedly pushing for the classification of cannabis to be reviewed (it is currently ‘Class B’), but it is not at all clear that enough of her peers or members of the political class would back such a call.
