Bootlegger
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Dec 9, 2000
- Messages
- 222
Subj: A plain-spoken British police chief asks "Are these things actually that bad?"
Date: 3/27/02 2:18:50 AM Eastern Standard Time
This is a press release from channel 4 (UK) news. There are several US police chiefs who have come out against the war on drugs, (most recently Jerry Oliver of Detroit), but none have gone as far as this British chief. He asks "Why shouldn't you be taking drugs?"
March 13, 2002
POLICE CHIEF ASKS, "WHY SHOULDN'T YOU BE TAKING DRUGS?"
In a radical departure from policy, a senior police officer tonight tells Channel 4 News he sees no problem with drug taking as long as "you're not mugging old ladies". Richard Brunstrom Chief Constable with North Wales Constabulary, who is known for his controversial views on Britain's drug
laws, calls for a major re-think on the way we deal with drug crime.
"What is the problem? If you're not mugging old ladies and not stealing from shops and not stealing cars, what actually is the problem? Why shouldn't you be taking drugs? And that's the question we need to be asking ourselves. Why are these things illegal? What was the purpose behind it?"
Brumstrom believes our current laws on drug-taking only exacerbate the problem, and that the only way to win the war on drugs may be to legalise them all.
"We have the harshest drugs laws in Europe and by far the worst drug abuse problem. So we haven't got it right and in my view we are losing the war, we have got the worst problems and we must look at other alternatives."
Brunstrom argues that it is our legal system is at fault, and calls into question our current 'illogical' laws whereby alcohol and nicotine are legal substances, and yet in his view, have a high cost to society and
cause as many social problems.
"There is no doubt at all that there is an appalling toll of human misery caused by the misuse of drugs in the current environment. My proposition is that much of that is caused by their illegality and not by the drugs and if they were treated differently by our legal system it's quite possible that much of the misery, much of the harm, much of the adverse impact on health could be swept away because it is not caused by the drugs themselves but by our legal system.
"It is very clear that alcohol and nicotine are arguably much more dangerous to individuals and more costly to our society than many of the proscribed drugs. So there is a great deal of illogicality attached to that. I would like to see more logic. I'd like to know why these things are illegal. Must they be illegal?"
"This is a moral problem as much as it is health or a legal one and that is why I believe that society needs to talk about this. Why are drugs illegal? And clearly if they damaging to health then that is one good reason. But the reasons why some of these drugs have become illegal are now lost in the mists of time and we ought to think about this."
It is Mr Brunstrom's belief is that the war on drugs has already been lost and he says billions of pounds a year are going into the pockets of criminals. He claims that if drugs were not illegal, their street value would not be so high, and drug pushers would not stand to make the vast sums currently possible by selling them.
"Something like £6 billion a year [is] going into the pockets of criminals from citizens of this country to support a war that we are losing and in my view we should be looking at alternatives.
"If drugs were not so hideously expensive, much of the reason for criminals getting involved in their trading would disappear.... Drugs are freely available and we're handing all profits to criminals. If you're going to be a drug addict surely it's better to have a controlled drug of known purity with proper dosage advice as I get on a bottle of aspirin rather than buying something unknown from a stranger on a street corner and paying money to criminals for the privilege. This is not sensible."
Brunstrom says that the war on drugs is causing a tidal wave of crime, with a third of all recorded crime committed by drug addicts to support their habit, and he calls for a look at alternative ways of controlling the problem.
"Are these things actually that bad? Are they that evil? Are there better alternatives to controlling use of drugs if we still want to control them? The war on drugs is causing a tidal wave of crime. We can
demonstrate that something around a third of all recorded crime is committed by drug addicts to support their habit. Do we really want to pay those costs? Are there better alternatives?
Despite his unconventional views, he has not received calls for his resignation and sees this as a sign that public opinion is shifting. He says he has received backing for his suggestions, with the police authority in Wales supporting his call for a Royal Commission to look into the possibility of legalising all drugs. He also claims that his views in no way affect his ability to uphold the current laws on drugs.
"I've been very pleasantly surprised by the level of support from my suggestion that we should talk about this. Almost nobody has suggested that I resign or that I have disgraced my uniform or that I ought to get out of the police service. I think this is good news. Perhaps public opinion is shifting, indeed I believe that it is very rapidly at the moment and there is grave danger of people in my position or even government ministers getting left behind public opinion."
"I am a police officer. I have a duty to uphold the law as it is, not as I might wish it to be. I don't necessarily agree with several of the laws that I have a duty to uphold. We will enforce the criminal law as it stands to the best of our ability unless and until that law is changed."
Ends
Notes to editors. This interview will be broadcast in full tonight, Wednesday March 13, on Channel 4 News at 7.00pm.
Associated links:
Independent Television News Limited,
200 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1X 8XZ,
Telephone: 0207 833 3000.
The chief's dept. website: http://www.heddlugogleddcymru.co.uk/about_us/stories/
Originally posted by “BekkaSue”
Date: 3/27/02 2:18:50 AM Eastern Standard Time
This is a press release from channel 4 (UK) news. There are several US police chiefs who have come out against the war on drugs, (most recently Jerry Oliver of Detroit), but none have gone as far as this British chief. He asks "Why shouldn't you be taking drugs?"
March 13, 2002
POLICE CHIEF ASKS, "WHY SHOULDN'T YOU BE TAKING DRUGS?"
In a radical departure from policy, a senior police officer tonight tells Channel 4 News he sees no problem with drug taking as long as "you're not mugging old ladies". Richard Brunstrom Chief Constable with North Wales Constabulary, who is known for his controversial views on Britain's drug
laws, calls for a major re-think on the way we deal with drug crime.
"What is the problem? If you're not mugging old ladies and not stealing from shops and not stealing cars, what actually is the problem? Why shouldn't you be taking drugs? And that's the question we need to be asking ourselves. Why are these things illegal? What was the purpose behind it?"
Brumstrom believes our current laws on drug-taking only exacerbate the problem, and that the only way to win the war on drugs may be to legalise them all.
"We have the harshest drugs laws in Europe and by far the worst drug abuse problem. So we haven't got it right and in my view we are losing the war, we have got the worst problems and we must look at other alternatives."
Brunstrom argues that it is our legal system is at fault, and calls into question our current 'illogical' laws whereby alcohol and nicotine are legal substances, and yet in his view, have a high cost to society and
cause as many social problems.
"There is no doubt at all that there is an appalling toll of human misery caused by the misuse of drugs in the current environment. My proposition is that much of that is caused by their illegality and not by the drugs and if they were treated differently by our legal system it's quite possible that much of the misery, much of the harm, much of the adverse impact on health could be swept away because it is not caused by the drugs themselves but by our legal system.
"It is very clear that alcohol and nicotine are arguably much more dangerous to individuals and more costly to our society than many of the proscribed drugs. So there is a great deal of illogicality attached to that. I would like to see more logic. I'd like to know why these things are illegal. Must they be illegal?"
"This is a moral problem as much as it is health or a legal one and that is why I believe that society needs to talk about this. Why are drugs illegal? And clearly if they damaging to health then that is one good reason. But the reasons why some of these drugs have become illegal are now lost in the mists of time and we ought to think about this."
It is Mr Brunstrom's belief is that the war on drugs has already been lost and he says billions of pounds a year are going into the pockets of criminals. He claims that if drugs were not illegal, their street value would not be so high, and drug pushers would not stand to make the vast sums currently possible by selling them.
"Something like £6 billion a year [is] going into the pockets of criminals from citizens of this country to support a war that we are losing and in my view we should be looking at alternatives.
"If drugs were not so hideously expensive, much of the reason for criminals getting involved in their trading would disappear.... Drugs are freely available and we're handing all profits to criminals. If you're going to be a drug addict surely it's better to have a controlled drug of known purity with proper dosage advice as I get on a bottle of aspirin rather than buying something unknown from a stranger on a street corner and paying money to criminals for the privilege. This is not sensible."
Brunstrom says that the war on drugs is causing a tidal wave of crime, with a third of all recorded crime committed by drug addicts to support their habit, and he calls for a look at alternative ways of controlling the problem.
"Are these things actually that bad? Are they that evil? Are there better alternatives to controlling use of drugs if we still want to control them? The war on drugs is causing a tidal wave of crime. We can
demonstrate that something around a third of all recorded crime is committed by drug addicts to support their habit. Do we really want to pay those costs? Are there better alternatives?
Despite his unconventional views, he has not received calls for his resignation and sees this as a sign that public opinion is shifting. He says he has received backing for his suggestions, with the police authority in Wales supporting his call for a Royal Commission to look into the possibility of legalising all drugs. He also claims that his views in no way affect his ability to uphold the current laws on drugs.
"I've been very pleasantly surprised by the level of support from my suggestion that we should talk about this. Almost nobody has suggested that I resign or that I have disgraced my uniform or that I ought to get out of the police service. I think this is good news. Perhaps public opinion is shifting, indeed I believe that it is very rapidly at the moment and there is grave danger of people in my position or even government ministers getting left behind public opinion."
"I am a police officer. I have a duty to uphold the law as it is, not as I might wish it to be. I don't necessarily agree with several of the laws that I have a duty to uphold. We will enforce the criminal law as it stands to the best of our ability unless and until that law is changed."
Ends
Notes to editors. This interview will be broadcast in full tonight, Wednesday March 13, on Channel 4 News at 7.00pm.
Associated links:
Independent Television News Limited,
200 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1X 8XZ,
Telephone: 0207 833 3000.
The chief's dept. website: http://www.heddlugogleddcymru.co.uk/about_us/stories/
Originally posted by “BekkaSue”
