Durham Police and Crime Commissioner Ron Hogg says the force will not proactively target small scale cannabis producers who are growing for their own use.
A police force has given drug users the green light to grow cannabis at home after declaring that officers will no longer proactively target small scale producers.
In a move, which will be seen as a further step towards decriminalisation, Durham Police has said it will only go after people growing and using the drug if there is a complaint or if they are being “blatant”.
While the force has insisted it will continue to tackle large scale cannabis farms and other areas of criminality associated with the drug, those who grow and use the cannabis at home will not be actively pursued.
The move comes in the wake of comments by the force’s Chief Constable, Mike Barton, who has argued that investigating and prosecuting drug addicts is “waste of police time”.
Mr Barton has also called for the decriminalisation of hard drugs such as heroin and cocaine, arguing that if they were supplied on the NHS, addicts would not need to go out and commit crime in order to buy illegal narcotics.
The new approach to cannabis production came from the force’s Police and Crime Commissioner, Ron Hogg, who said that anyone caught in possession of the drug would be given the opportunity to avoid prosecution by signing up to a crime reduction initiative.
[Courtesy Daily Telegraph]
In a move, which will be seen as a further step towards decriminalisation, Durham Police has said it will only go after people growing and using the drug if there is a complaint or if they are being “blatant”.
While the force has insisted it will continue to tackle large scale cannabis farms and other areas of criminality associated with the drug, those who grow and use the cannabis at home will not be actively pursued.
The move comes in the wake of comments by the force’s Chief Constable, Mike Barton, who has argued that investigating and prosecuting drug addicts is “waste of police time”.
Mr Barton has also called for the decriminalisation of hard drugs such as heroin and cocaine, arguing that if they were supplied on the NHS, addicts would not need to go out and commit crime in order to buy illegal narcotics.
The new approach to cannabis production came from the force’s Police and Crime Commissioner, Ron Hogg, who said that anyone caught in possession of the drug would be given the opportunity to avoid prosecution by signing up to a crime reduction initiative.
[Courtesy Daily Telegraph]
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