Richard Brunstrom, the Chief Constable for North Wales, says that a drugs policy based on prohibition has failed, in a presentation he made to North Wales Police Authority today.
The Independent has covered his main points critical of drug prohibition, which are not new to critics of government drug policies but which have been welcomed by them anyway considering his more heightened status in public life.
The major UK political parties rebuffed his views, the Liberal Democrats more gently so, and I doubt he will get too far with it, but it is always interesting when someone high up in the police force comes out so publicly against a policy it must enforce.The president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, Ken Jones, did not agree though, arguing that it was bad news to legitimise “dangerous narcotic substances which would then have the potential to ruin even more lives and our neighbourhoods”.
Interestingly, while Mr. Brunstrom used alcohol and tobacco as examples of legitimate products which wrought more harm than currently illegal drugs - contra the current system of drug ABC classification - Mr Jones used them as an example of drugs whose legitimacy had not helped reduced their “ravages” on society.
