UK - Drug offences rise 14pc after policy 'shambles'

[Lunar Loops]

You spin me right round David, right round....

This from The Torygraph:
Drug offences rise 14pc after policy 'shambles'

By John Steele, Crime Correspondent

Last Updated: 2:34am BST 19/10/2007

The "shambolic and failed" drugs policy of the Government has been attacked after figures showed that drug offences rose by 14 per cent in the three months to June this year.
The Tories said drug abuse was one of the major causes of crime and that the statistics show Labour "have patently failed to deliver on their rhetoric".
David Davis, the shadow home secretary, said drug abuse "destroys lives, wrecks communities, fuels other crime and is a major cause of our broken society".
"Spiralling drug abuse is a result of a shambolic and failed policy which needs putting right. Labour, however, are part of the problem, not the solution," he said.
Overall, drug offences recorded by police increased by 14 per cent in April to June 2007 on the same period last year, rising from 48,300 offences to 55,000, figures released yesterday showed.
The Home Office said in its report that the increases "in this and previous quarters coincided with increases in the police use of powers to issue cannabis warnings". Warnings are given to those from whom small amounts of cannabis are seized.
Cannabis was downgraded from a Class B to a Class C drug three years ago to reduce the number of arrests and court appearances for possession. The Tories have pledged to re-classify the drug.
Police chiefs have expressed concern that the downwards re-classification sent mixed messages to young people.
Tim Hollis, the chief constable of Humberside and chairman of the Association of the Chief Police Officers' drugs committee, told The Daily Telegraph that the use of warnings appeared to have grown as police tackled the anti-social behaviour involved in public smoking of cannabis, much of it high-strength "skunk".
He also suggested that warnings, which do not involve a criminal conviction and record, might be a "simple and easy" way of boosting "sanction detections" — the solving of an offence through a caution or reprimand, for example.
Mr Hollis said: "There is a growing recognition of the harm caused by cannabis to individuals, particularly young people, but also of the way that open smoking of cannabis can cause real fears within communities and undermine public confidence.
"There is also growing evidence of significant investment by criminals in cannabis factories, not just in the urban centres but across the country. They want to sell their drugs and they will be actively encouraging people to take cannabis.
"The third element —and I would not want to overstate it but it has to be an element — is that nationally, for the last few years, there has been a strong drive on improving offenders brought to justice, with sanction detections."
Mr Hollis added: "If people think the problems caused by cannabis will be solved by reclassifying it to a B drug they will be disappointed. It's not that simple."
In Lambeth, south London, where a move towards a softer line on cannabis began under the former Metropolitan police commander, Brian Paddick, and other areas there have been crackdowns and even declarations of "zero tolerance" on cannabis. In these periods, police are more likely to arrest for cannabis possession.
One zero-tolerance crackdown has taken place in Battersea, close to Lambeth. The local commander, Chief Supt Stewart Low, said the policy had been introduced because of concerns about drug dealing and anti-social behaviour.
The figures also showed that recorded crime levels fell seven per cent to just under 1,300,000 offences, although England and Wales still have one of the highest crime rates in Europe.
Recorded levels of violent crime were down eight per cent, including a 14 per cent drop in "most serious violence."
However, the British Crime Survey, which reflects the experiences of crime based on a series of interviews, showed a one per cent rise in violent crime. The Home Office claimed these increases were "not statistically significant".