Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Police face jobs cuts as budgets get slashed by current economic climate but we can prevent this by legalising drugs, a £3.5 billion pound industry













Dear All

Now that cuts are coming down the pipeline because the former Labour Government didn’t regulate the banks properly, there is going to be a very hard bounce for all manner of services.

“How can Scotland maintain high quality policing against the background of drastically reduced resources?”

This is a question asked by the Glasgow Herald, a Labour Party supporting paper.

The answer is to create new resources.

Yesterday, I argued again for legalisation of drugs which would have benefits beyond health, there is an economic benefit too just sitting there untapped.

This is an industry worth £3.5 billion pound; Strathclyde Police need £30 million.

Rather than cutting Police numbers and resources, legalisation could have the opposite effect.

Prohibition has failed and resources are getting ploughed into an unwinnable and phoney war.

It is reckoned for all the time, money and effort; we are stopping about 1% of all the heroin coming into Scotland.

1% by any stretch of the imagination is total failure.

It is now time for the Police to call for legalisation.

We need a proper system in place so that this revenue stream can be diverted from criminals to government.

By not acting we have allowed the drugs trade criminals to fund other criminal activity which in turn uses up more Police resources from counterfeiting to human trafficking.

The Police are an investment in society we cannot do without, we shouldn’t be cutting or freezing recruitment but we have to recognise that the money must come from somewhere.

Sooner or later the penny will drop that the solution to funding is right in front of everyone’s nose.

Legalisation can solve many problems; some other problems associated with drug use will still be there but now so will the resources that can be brought to bear by legalisation.

More and more people know that legalisation is the answer.

I suspect we will see more senior Police Officers calling for legalisation and a proper regulatory framework in the near future.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

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