After reading a police warning from Burley in the UK published on the BBC, I was thinking a little about the futility of the police position.

Burnley police arrested six people in the area and confiscated cocaine valued in “the thousands of pounds” along with some cash before issuing the warning that “it’s only a matter of time before drug dealers accross the area are caught.”

But in essence, so what?

Are the police really dealing with people who think in rational terms of how long they can get away with it or are they dealing with people who factor in brushes with the law into their business plans? Or perhaps something in between? A flurry of arrests is going to have very little long term impact on the drug problems of Burnley if the demand still exists and there are people who are able to fill it - and we can safely assume there will be.

But, more importantly, why are the police dealing with BBC readers?

Who exactly was this BBC warning meant for? Now I am going to go out on a limb and suggest that police warnings issued to drug dealers via the media (especially the BBC)  are going to miss their intended target by a factor of light-years.

We’re then left with a press bight intended for general public consumption. Joe Average at least now knows that the Burnley police are doing something to fight this terrible scourge of drugs.

At least when we come to that conclusion, we can then concede that the war on drugs is a war of ideas and public perceptions.

Now we’re making some progress.