UK: LEGALISE HEROIN AND SELL IT ON STREET

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LEGALISE HEROIN AND SELL IT ON STREET, SAYS POLICE CHIEF

A chief constable provoked outrage yesterday by suggesting that heroin
should be sold on street corners or in pharmacies.

Richard Brunstrom, who is in charge of North Wales police, said he
believed that the drug laws were doing "more harm than good." They
left vulnerable people in danger, while enabling criminals to make
massive profits.

"Heroin is very addictive, but it is not very, very dangerous," he
told the Dragon's Eye programme on BBC Wales. "It is perfectly
possible to lead a normal life for a full life span and hold down a
job while being addicted to the drug.

"I don't advocate anybody abusing their bodies with drugs, but clearly
some want to. What would be wrong with making heroin available on the
state for people who want to abuse their bodies?"

He went on: "The question is actually not, 'Am I prepared to see the
Government selling heroin on the street corner or through the
pharmacy?' but 'Why would we not want to do that? What is wrong with
that?

"It is a very challenging question. I don't know what society's answer
is, but my answer is that is what we should be doing because our
current policy is causing more harm than good."

He claimed that "an enormous" number of people of all ages and all
sections of society were "ready to see a root and branch change to our
drug laws". Such a move, he said, could cripple the
multi-million-pound trade in illegal drugs.

Mr Brunstrom has recently been heavily criticised over his campaign
against speeding motorists.

He first outlined his views on drugs three years ago, when he told his
police authority that the battle against the suppliers could be won
only if drugs were legalised.

Despite the outlay of billions of pounds and thousands of hours in
police time, the number of addicts had multiplied at an alarming rate.

He likened the laws on drugs to those on alcohol prohibition in the
United States during the 1920s. The latter, he pointed out, had been
"an unmitigated disaster". Mr Brunstrom declined to elaborate on his
views last night.

His spokesman said: "The chief constable's views on the subject are
widely known and there is nothing further to say."

The Association of Chief Police Officers was unimpressed by Mr
Brunstrom's outburst.

Andy Hayman, the Chief Constable of Norfolk and the association's
spokesman on drugs, said: "Acpo does not support either the
legalisation or open sale of any controlled drug. It is not the role
of the police service to advocate measures which require expert
medical or scientific opinion."

However, a Welsh Labour MP supported the call. Martyn Jones, MP for
Clwyd South and chairman of the Welsh affairs select committee in the
Commons, said: "I believe he is right to open the debate.

"His solution is certainly controversial, but that is no reason to
preclude an intelligent and informed debate on this subject. We cannot
close our eyes to the problems generated by drugs any longer."