by Trevor Bevins, Local Democracy Reporting Service.
Weymouth councillor Louie O’Leary has called for a greater focus on the possession of drugs.
The Littlemoor and Preston councillor, who says that he has seen too many cases of drug problems in his ward, claims that the Japanese approach to get tough on possession appears to work in reducing overall drug use.
At a police and crime panel meeting (Thursday) he said his ward had ‘hot spots’ of drug use in social housing and yet social housing providers seem unwilling to tackle it.
“Housing Associations should play a greater role in responsibility as a landlord,” he said.
Cllr O’Leary questioned whether Dorset’s Police and Crime Commissioner would support his views.
He said his view was simple – drugs were illegal and the law should be enforced.
The Commissioner, David Sidwick, says the questions ‘touched a raw nerve’ with him, adding that he believed some current police approaches to drugs went too far.
He said that the Metropolitan Police had come up with the idea of a ‘cannabis warning’ over possession while Dorset had an approach which included encouraging people to divert away from drugs.
He said that the Japanese approach to jail people for possession was not workable in the UK, but said he supported an approach outlined in a previous White Paper which had a sliding scale of consequences, starting with an awareness course before moving on to other sanctions.
“I would like to see where a person was using, but not dealing, who was causing harm to other people had an element of sanction as well as an element of recovery in the consequences – but unfortunately we are not there yet. What we have is a tapestry of different forces doing different things – but the cannabis warning, I think, is not fit for purpose. I’m glad we’ve got a diversion scheme here (Dorset) going forward… Long term harm is as important as short term harm.”
On housing providers and landlords the Commissioner said his opinion was that they should be more proactive and had raised their approach with some housing associations.
“Whilst we look at the vulnerability of the person taking the drugs they increase the vulnerability of the people around them – so I think there is an onus on landlords and I have written to at least one Housing Association to remind them of their duty under the Misuse of Drugs Act,” he said.
In response to a later question he said that the UK’s drug approach had been wrong for years because it vacillated between the public health approach and punishment for law breaking, often “facilitating and normalising” drug taking.
He said he was not only about enforcement, which he continued to believe was necessary; but also about effective treatment across all drugs, including cannabis; and adequate investment in prevention which he said had not happened for 40 years.
Cllr Louie O’Leary questions the Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner