Express & Star comment: Lax attitude to drugs is no surprise
As the debate about legalising cannabis insidiously grows, it is understandable that campaigners will seize upon any softening of the law in medicinal cases to suit their own aims.
It is already abundantly clear that modern policing methods amount to turning a blind eye when it comes to so-called 'soft' drug use on our streets.
It is now not uncommon to detect the pungent stench of cannabis in our town and city centres on a daily basis.
At times, people clearly under the influence of this drug litter our streets, safe in the knowledge that if they do happen to get stopped by the police, the worst penalty they are likely to face is a slap on the wrist.
Little good can come of such a lax attitude and approach.
The authorities have a responsibility to protect people from themselves and there is a clear line between 'soft' drug use and people getting hooked on 'Class A' narcotics such as heroin and cocaine.
While left-wing states in America have legalised cannabis, it would be an act of national madness for similar measures to be brought in here.
The arguments for and against legalising cannabis are many and complex.
Yet while we regularly hear people promote its apparent virtues in a medical sense, usually in terms of pain relief, the strong links between cannabis and psychosis are underplayed.
Scientists have warned that up to eight per cent of people who regularly smoke strong strains of the drug, such as skunk, develop some form of mental illness.
Meanwhile the connection between cannabis and schizophrenia is only recently becoming conventional wisdom.
For the record, this newspaper opposes the legalisation of cannabis.
Not only that, the Express & Star implores senior police and politicians to take their responsibility in this area more seriously.
The laissez-faire attitude of the authorities towards cannabis use in this country must be addressed with great urgency.
Unfortunately, it mirrors a general approach to law and order that has contributed greatly to the crimewave that Britain currently finds itself struggling to deal with.
Rather than considering signing off on the legalisation of cannabis, we need tougher measures to stamp out the use of all illegal drugs.
