A police chief has urged a "more sensible" approach and honest debate about tackling heroin abuse. Durham Chief Constable Mike Barton has said the war on drugs is failing and has called for class A drugs to be decriminalised. Last year he joined his Police and Crime Commissioner Ron Hogg in the belief that addicts should have access to "consumption rooms" where they could inject prescribed heroin legally. Their idea is that using drug consumption rooms to treat heroin addiction should be explored further and that it would help take drugs off the streets and reduce crime. Further, they say the heroin should be provided by the state to stop money going to criminals.
'Failed policy'
Mr Barton travelled with the BBC's Inside Out programme to Copenhagen where there is an experiment with drug rooms - although users supply the drugs themselves. The police chief said his approach was "not going soft on drugs" but "going sensible on drugs". He said: "I have thrown the kitchen sink at drug dealing and drug taking for 34 years and it's not getting any better, in fact it's getting worse and I'm saying let's have that honest debate. "What I'm saying is let's take the money out of the business."
He said he felt it was important to make the comments while he was a serving police chief constable, had "something to lose" and had control over such things.
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