Arrests over cannabis use have plunged by up to 77%
THE number of cannabis users arrested in major cities has plunged in a decade, analysis released yesterday revealed.
Recorded cannabis offences per 1,000 people fell by 77 per cent in Greater Manchester, 66 per cent in the West Midlands, and 59 per cent in London between 2008 and 2018.
News of the steep fall comes as police chiefs have been given the green light to stop arresting users.
One senior officer in the West Midlands has ended arrests because they ‘criminalise lots of young people’.
Other cities also arrested fewer cannabis users. Since 2008, police recorded a 70 per cent drop in cannabis offences in Leicestershire and a 67 per cent drop in Cambridgeshire.
Only three of the 43 forces in England and Wales increased the number of cannabis arrests over the decade.
Overall, national crime figures showed that drug offences logged by police forces fell by 37 per cent, while crime of all kinds went up by 11.4 per cent over the period.
The startling drop in cannabis incidents prompted MPs to accuse police of effectively decriminalising cannabis without reference to the Government or to Parliament.
Lib-Dem MP Norman Lamb, a health minister under David Cameron’s Coalition, told The Times: ‘ What we are witnessing is a de facto shift towards decriminalisation, but without any debate, without any role of government, without national oversight.
‘This is police and Crime Commissioners exercising judgment when faced with almost impossible restrictions on resources.’
Critics claim police chiefs are undermining the law, which states that possession of cannabis is a serious offence leadhas ing to a maximum punishment of five years in jail, and of ignoring the links between cannabis, violence and knife crime.
Crime statistics released this week showed that knife crime reached record levels, with an average of 112 offences every day. One police force logged a rise in knife attacks of a third in a single year.
The Mail reported on April 6 how West Midlands Chief Constable Dave Thompson acknowledged that officers had been told to ignore cannabis users. He told MPs: ‘We took some policy decisions about what we do about cannabis.
‘My answer is, let’s not give everyone a cannabis warning – it’s disastrous for their life chances.’
Mr Thompson’s force covers a region that has been called Britain’s ‘cannabis capital’. More cannabis plants are found there than anywhere else in the country, according to figures from the Home Office.
The National Police Chiefs Council, the police forces’ umbrella body, has said its chief constables can decide for themselves on whether to arrest cannabis users.
Its spokesman on drugs, Cleveland Assistant Chief Constable Jason Harwin, said: ‘There is strong evidence to suggest that recommending minor offenders for early intervention treatment instead of pursuing convictions can prevent re- offending and result in the best outcome for the user and the criminal justice system.’