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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
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The key here, of course, is not simply tightening criminal codes. Prison sentences are not necessarily the best way to treat the drug problem - especially as it relates to first-time users, or those whose use is restricted to Class B drugs.
By all means, let's have a debate about the penalties applied. That, however, represents a very different approach to simply ignoring current laws because they waste police time, which is clearly the reasoning here.
Over the past decade, the incidence of teenage use of cannabis in the UK has been falling. Figures released by the NHS say that one in 15 teenagers and adults have smoked the drug in the past decade.
One is left to wonder, therefore, why the Durham police have chosen to take this stance - particularly as it is predicated on the cost of law enforcement?
They have said that their decision is based on the need to free up resources for dealing with more serious forms of drug crime. This ignores the fact that international studies over many years have indicated that marijuana use can and often does lead to experimentation with harder, Class A drugs.
In some users, dependence breeds more dependence; the addiction to a chemical high leads to a desire, and then a life-altering craving, for more.
In the end, then, what might be 'saved' within law-enforcement will likely be lost within the already embattled NHS. It may struggle to keep up with treatment of more serious drug problems, which can't necessarily be undertaken by third sector groups.
Moreover, surely a falling incidence of marijuana use at the present time suggests that the current approach has been working? Why ditch it now?
The message the Durham police are sending will have an impact felt beyond the cannabis-using community. It will suggest to some that, given enough time, any drug experience may be legitimated - if not by law-makers then certainly by supposed law-enforcers.
It will also suggest to drug users - and pushers - in other parts of the country that a domino effect may be in the offing. If nothing is said or done to oppose the Durham approach, other forces might soon follow suit.
The Durham decision is both irresponsible and immature. Let's
look again at the penalties regarding imprisonment, but turning a
blind eye is irresponsible. 
Mal Fletcher is a social commentator and social futurist, global leadership speaker, broadcaster and author. He is chairman of the 
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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.