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radioMal Fletcher comments on the decision by Durham police not to take future action against many private growers and users of cannabis
'If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense.' So said the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland.
Perhaps the leadership of the Durham police service have been reading a little too much Lewis Carroll of late.
Durham police have announced a decision not to take future action against many private growers and users of cannabis.
While most personal use of the Class B drug will remain technically illegal, the police will not employ their resources to prevent small amounts from being grown or used privately.
This, they say, will free up time and money for the pursuit of those pushing harder drugs.
Perhaps only someone unfortunate enough as to be a regular user of marijuana - or more potent forms of the drug such as skunk - will be irrational enough not to see flaws in the reasoning.
First, there are obvious issues relating to who makes laws in the first place. Is it the police service, or the Houses of Parliament?
If a private citizen were to ignore a law, would that individual be allowed to walk away, after arguing that he or she was simply trying to pre-empt a change to the law?
In behaving as it is, the Durham police service - the only one in the country to take this stance - is arguably subverting the role of government and therefore challenging the democratic principle.
There is also the issue of public health.
Granted, the police service is not a health provider per se. However, the various branches of public service have always worked together to help the community face and overcome potential, multi-faceted challenges to public wellbeing.
The threat represented by terrorist activity defies categorisation as a health, security, or criminal issue alone. It crosses all boundaries.
Likewise, the potential future spread of plague through a community is a challenge that can only be met by local and national services that are thinking, planning and behaving in a truly linked-up way.
In the light of these potential future threats, is the Durham police service suggesting that it has no part to play in protecting public health?
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(continued from previous comment)
When someone (it doesn't even matter who, civilian or person of authority) decides to choose that a law doesn't need to followed, only bad can become of it. I hope that the decision of this police department doesn't have to great of an effect. And I hope this doesn't cause too much trouble as a whole.
As far as the last paragraph in the previous comment: guns are legal in the United States. In 2010, there were a total of 30,470 gun related deaths. That’s homicides and suicides. Over 30,000 people dead in a year. That’s a tremendous amount of people! Does legalizing guns make our children any safer? I’d say not. Illegal guns are still everywhere here as well. So to say legalizing marijuana will make things better is not true.