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| Police Ignore Cannabis Dealers |
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Posted by FoM on August 11, 2001 at 22:27:14 PT By Murdo MacLeod and Poppy Mitchell-Rose Source: Scotland On Sunday 
Police have effectively abandoned the targeting of cannabis dealers to concentrate on heroin and cocaine, the Scottish Executive confirmed last night. Official figures obtained by Scotland on Sunday reveal that while police forces are confiscating ever-increasing amounts of ‘Class A’ drugs, including heroin, seizures of "soft" drugs have fallen by up to 90%. Although ministers have refused to tone down their official line on cannabis, behind the scenes they have encouraged chief constables to throw their full resources into the battle against hard drugs. An Executive spokesman admitted: "There has been a change in policy. All forces are now targeting hard drugs as the main priority rather than other substances. Targets are set in terms of seizing Class A drugs. "It does not mean we are completely ignoring Class B drugs, but Class A drugs have been identified as the most pressing area for urgent action." Bill Aitken, Scottish Conservative deputy spokesman on law and order, reacted with fury to the figures. He said: "It would appear from the derisory seizure for class B drugs that the Executive is largely turning a blind eye to the use of so-called soft drugs such as cannabis. This clearly demonstrates that its current approach of simply talking tough on drugs is not working." He added: "There is clear evidence that cannabis is a gateway drug that leads users into abuse of even more dangerous drugs such as crack cocaine and heroin. The evidence that we are losing this war at present can be seen in the streets, the courts, the hospitals and in communities throughout Scotland. These new figures are themselves a damning admission from the Executive of the impotence of its own approach." The figures, which were published by the Scottish Executive last week, show that since 1998 police forces north of the Border have dramatically changed their focus from soft to hard drugs. In 1997, Scottish officers seized £30.1m worth of class B drugs and £2.3m worth of class A drugs, a pattern which the forces continued to follow in 1998, as £42.9m of soft drugs and £5.5m of harder substances were held. However, in 1999, the last year for which Scotland-wide figures are available, the picture was dramatically reversed. Officers seized £16.4m of hard drugs and just £4.5m of soft drugs. Latest figures from individual forces confirm police are continuing to place less emphasis on soft drugs in their day-to-day inquiries. The latest figures from Tayside show that the amount of cannabis seized fell by 60% while the amount of heroin recovered increased 20-fold - from over £300,000 in 1999 to £111,000 worth of drugs in 2000. Meanwhile, the value of heroin confiscated soared from £8,500 to £182,000. Figures from Strathclyde Police, Scotland’s largest force, show seizures of soft drugs continue to fall as a proportion of total drugs confiscated. In 1998, 29% of all drugs seized were soft drugs. By 1999 that figure had fallen to 10%, and last year only 6% of all drugs held were soft drugs. Linda Hendry, the Scottish spokesperson for the Campaign to Legalise Cannabis, said: "This is another demonstration of why cannabis should be legalised. It is now more and more random whether people will be prosecuted for using cannabis. That means that those who do happen to be prosecuted are even more victimised than before." But the go-easy policy on cannabis has not been put into practice throughout Scotland. Biz Ivol, of St Margaret’s in Orkney, who famously sends MS-sufferers chocolates containing the drug as a palliative, was last week raided by Orkney police. She condemned the inconsistency in the law as it stands. She said: "It’s just crazy. They turn a blind eye to it in one place and here they are clamping down on us for trying to help other people get over pain. It’s a scandal." Complete Title: Police Ignore Cannabis Dealers in Attempt To Crack Down on Hard Drugs Source: Scotland On Sunday (UK) Related Articles & Web Site: Campaign To Legalise Cannabis - Scotland Police Raid Home of Cannabis Sweets MS Woman MS Sufferer Sells Cannabis Chocs Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help |
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| Comment #5 posted by mayan on August 12, 2001 at 17:09:12 PT |
| I believe that the war on drugs is mostly a war on marijuana. This war on marijuana is ultimately a war on industrial hemp. Does anyone really think that our government cares if we snort Comet Cleanser until our eyes pop out?(Except that they wouldn't be able to tax us!) They have banned all of these other substances to disguise their true intentions. The Duponts,Carnegies,Mellons,Rockefellers & Hearsts all helped persuade our congress(or more specifically,Harry J. Anslinger) to include industrial hemp in the Marijuana Tax Act. They knew that hemp could be used for anything & that the farmers, instead of themselves, would reap huge profits. There are very powerful forces who do not want to see industrial hemp cultivated in this country ever again. If we can make hemp legal state by state , I believe that the outright legalization of marijuana would soon follow,because there would be no reason to continue it's prohibition. The entire war on drugs would topple shortly after. Save Hemp! [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #4 posted by Patrick on August 12, 2001 at 13:57:04 PT |
| Reality you brought up a really good point… "I mean there is something extremely weird about the big fuss over industrial hemp when the government encouraged farmers to win WW2 by growing hemp and now there is a dogma answer to it. It is bad stuff. It is evil. What the heck is going on and who is behind this distorted reality?" I am aware of the history of MJ and all but, I never considered it in quite the way that you just presented it. What is going on? I thought the ban began because the synthetic fiber industry feared the quality of hemp fiber and thus associated it with the "stoney" effects of MJ. Thus ban it before our kids get it mentality. But, I think there must be something deeper than that going on. Every bit of logic and compassionate reason points to ending this sad war. Yet it continues. Continues and even now it becomes a Crusade" with the appointment of Asa Hutchinson, who by the way, seems to be involved in some nastiness in his own state. So what is really going on? I checked the DEA's own statistics on drug use/abuse at their website: http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/stats/overview.htm Seems they get more money in their budget as use rises? If the real goal or mission is to reduce use? Then their own stats illustrate they are not doing their job. If they were doing an effective job, one would assume the charts would be reversed. However, the charts indicate rising use each year, so why do they get more money for not lowering use? In the business world if you do not do your job you get fired! Logically speaking. The only sensible conclusion is that the budget is being rewarded for making more people use drugs. Chart goes up you get more funding! Albert Einstein said it best, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and expecting different results." It must be the money! I mean… look at the money involved in drug trafficking. Exorbitant amounts of money are created by prohibition. Knowing that alcohol prohibition created crime syndicates, perhaps our government thought this whole "drug" prohibition thing up as a way to rule the world and get rich without the masses being the wiser? While pretending to clean up the mess "of drugs" on one hand, they get FAT with the other hand. Basic trick of every magician, the old slight of hand, hand is quicker than eye trick. Our mission, should we choose to accept ala Mission Impossible. Is to find out what the heck is going and who is behind this distorted reality. Then maybe we can point a finger at the root cause and end this stupid WAR. And yes, we should hold a war crimes tribunal to prosecute the corrupt and twisted evil men and women who dreamt this freaking war up. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #3 posted by aocp on August 12, 2001 at 11:34:58 PT |
| Just a small correction: that's Mrs. Kubby and i believe she is running for Lt. Governor. She's the wife of the ridiculously-harrassed Steve Kubby, who ran for Gov. on the Libertarian ticket in California last time and was run out of the country and threatened with death-through-incarceration by the narcs for having the balls to dare open his mouth. Such people are going to Hell, no doubt about it. Hope their bags are packed. [ Post Comment ] |
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Comment #2 posted by reality on August 12, 2001 at 10:31:06 PT:
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| I am tired of this gateway drug stuff. There are people that are going to experiment with all kinds of drugs no matter what. I have had a few valiums in my day and a few Xanex but it has nothing to do with MJ. Besides if MJ were legalized how many people would never drink alcohol again. It is past time to get realistic. It is a time for pragmatism and at least Scotland can see the handwriting on the wall. I wish somebody would publish what the media was saying about MJ before it was declared illegal in 1937 and before all the spinmasters were around. If you haven't read about the way the prohibition of MJ came about you should read about the history of MJ at http://www.norml.org There is a MS. Covy running for Governor of California in the next election and campaining on MJ reform. At http://www.pot-tv.net on the August 9th or 10th show see says that the war on marijuana is as much about marijuana as the Boston Tea Party was about tea. I mean there is something extremely weird about the big fuss over industrial hemp when the government encouraged farmers to win WW2 by growing hemp and now there is a dogma answer to it. It is bad stuff. It is evil. What the heck is going on and who is behind this distorted reality? The rest of the world is seeing the light while the U.S. keeps spending billions to protect the cloud. Something is very bad wrong and there is no coverage in the media. One in four prisoners in the world are housed in U.S. jails and we are the land of the free? ALL WE ARE SAYING IS GIVE GRASS A CHANCE. END THE WAR ON MJ. THE LAWS ARE THE PROBLEM AND NOT THE SUBSTANCE. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #1 posted by Doug on August 12, 2001 at 10:09:17 PT |
| This is very interesting. The figures in this articlle indicate that either the amount of hard drugs increased dramatically between 1998 and 1999, or up until 1999 they had basically given a free ride to dealers in hard drugs, in their attempt to bust cannabis dealers, who are less dangerous. I suspect the second consclusion is more likely! So what the Conservative politicans are saying is that they prefer the crackdown on cannabis (since it is a gatway drug) and a more lenient policy to those who have already gone through the gateway. A sterling example of having your head screwed on backwards. [ Post Comment ] |
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