By NDJFran
AFTER publishing a story about a man being taken to court for possessing nine pence worth of cannabis, the Journal was sent a letter by the Devon Cannabis Club condemning the case.
It read: "The Devon Cannabis Club were shocked to read that a 38 year old man was taken to court and given a 6 month conditional discharge and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £15, all over 0.09 grams of cannabis. This can only be considered an appalling misuse of tax money, in regards to both the initial arrest and subsequent court case.
"0.09 grams is a tiny amount of cannabis by anyone's standards and the fact that the police and courts deemed it worthy of arrest and a criminal record just goes to show the absurdity of the current legal status of the drug. Mr Saunders was not causing any harm to anybody by possessing this miniscule amount of cannabis and as such the charges against him constitute a completely unjust and disproportionate punishment for the 'crime' that was committed.
"Unfortunately for Mr Saunders we have recently taken a step back in terms of how we police cannabis by getting rid of the 'cannabis caution'. If this option had still been available to the police they may well have chosen not to waste so much time and money on such a pointless and unjustified court case.
"Many countries the world over have begun to realise that criminalising people for drug possession is a harmful and unnecessary way to deal with drug use. It costs huge amounts of valuable money and time, does nothing to curtail drug use or put a dent in the pockets of organised crime, leaves thousands of people with criminal records which are far more damaging to them than any substance they may have taken, and causes a breakdown in the relationship between the public and the police.
"It is high time the government took note of what the evidence on drug policy tells them and moved to, at the very least, decriminalise simple drug possession. The Home Office released its own report on international drug policy on October 30th and concluded that punitive drug laws have no effect on levels of use, and that the liberalisation of drug policy in places such as Portugal and Switzerland have been successful in dealing with drug use and related issues in a way that is beneficial to public health.
"We urge everyone, and especially politicians, to look at the evidence and decide for themselves whether the Home Office report is correct. If it is, then it we need to change the UK's drug policy as a matter of urgency, and all parties should pull together to make this happen.
"Yours,
Daryl Sullivan - The Devon Cannabis Club"
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment