Let off-licences stock cannabis says police chief

AN ELECTED police commissioner yesterday called for off-licences to be able to sell cannabis – claiming alcohol causes ‘a lot more harm’ than the class B drug.

Arfon Jones, the North Wales police and crime commissioner, said: ‘I want to see drugs controlled and sold by responsible retailers similar to off-licences that sell alcohol.’

Mr Jones added that prohibition did not work and that harder drugs such as cocaine and heroin should be made available on prescription.

His comments come after figures revealed less than 1 per cent of those caught with illegal drugs are jailed. Some 325,000 cannabis users were let off over four years.

David Raynes, of the National Drug Prevention Alliance, said: ‘This is nonsense – cannabis affects people in different ways to alcohol but it causes a huge amount of harm.’