On April 5th 2019, news broke in tabloids of police “going soft” on cannabis possession in the Midlands, raising the possibility that this was effectively a “green light” to UK police forces up and down the country to do the same. A lack of sourcing for the story as well as the fact that only a limited number of news outlets picked up on it suggested it was worth digging a little deeper. THC was able to locate the direct source of this story, and relate that to important wider policing trends, but has been as yet unable to locate the “official” statement which followed in the Daily Mail on April 8th.

Here is the timeline:

March 26: Home Affairs Select Committee hearing on “Serious Violent Crime” (10am in Room 8) in which oral evidence was given by West Midlands Chief Constable Dave Thompson.



Ten days later:

So what exactly is the scoop?

Context

The initial story was fuelled by West Midlands’ Chief Constable Dave Thompson’s oral evidence in the context of serious violent crime particularly as it relates to policy decisions implemented by his force for preventing knife crime. (see below for the relevant excerpt). As you can see from the text prior to the illuminated quote below, he was explicitly referring to police stop-searches for weapons. He prefaced this section of evidence with a judgement call: “I don’t set out with a strategy to criminalise lots of young people.” He then went on to say “we took some policy decisions about what to do about cannabis because if we are stopping and searching for weapons, we know we will find huge amounts of cannabis. My answer is not, “Let’s give everybody a cannabis warning”. It is disastrous for their life chances.” (Emphasis added) His evidence suggests matter-of-factly that cannabis possession is so prevalent that to criminalise everyone found with it on their person would “criminalise lots of young people”. As he was speaking about the importance of crime prevention strategies in order not to have to deal with serious violent crime downstream, this seems to make good sense.

Follow-up Statement

A fragmented follow-up statement attributed to Cleveland assistant chief constable and NPCC* ‘lead for drugs’ Jason Harwin then appeared in a Daily Mail article on April 8th. No direct quote of the statement is available, but here is what he apparently said according to the Daily Mail:

“…asking cannabis users to go for treatment rather than prosecuting them could prevent re-offending and provide the ‘best outcome’.”

“There is strong evidence to suggest that recommending minor offenders for early intervention treatment instead of pursuing convictions can prevent re-offending and result in the best outcome for both the user and the criminal justice system.”

“It is a matter for chief constables, in liaison with their police and crime commissioners, to determine operational priorities.”

“…chief constables would continue to pursue large-scale drug gangsters.”

“…there are a range of options for dealing with those found in possession of cannabis or who cultivate the plant that are proportionate to individual circumstances – these include out-of-court disposals and cannabis warnings, as well as prosecution.’”

Whilst this does not suggest the roll out of an official national policy, it does indicate that police forces are increasingly interested in experimenting with unofficial rational ones. This form of decriminalisation for possession of small amounts of cannabis aims to both reduce harm and increase the effectiveness of policing on a limited budget. Reducing the number of young people suspected of carrying knives from being criminalised for possessing cannabis would a) reduce the likelihood of dragging potentially at risk young people into the criminal justice system and re-offending later on in life, therefore reducing the institutional harm caused by policing on individuals and b) save valuable police time and resources processing people for cannabis possession, which would in turn enable them to focus on large-scale drug gangsters – of which there are many in Birmingham – thus reducing the social harm caused by these gangs. Offering treatment or non-criminalising measures (fines, warnings etc) are further harm reduction strategies which offer an alternative to criminal prosecution. This seems to be an evidence-based holistic approach to harm-reduction, triggered in response to an increasingly under-funded national police force struggling to deal with increasing amounts of serious violent crime – particularly knife crime – as well as large-scale drug gangs, amidst wide-spread recreational use of cannabis.

Increasingly, police forces are coming to see cannabis possession and use as a less significant cause of harm than the system which criminalises its users and allows criminal gangs to prosper. -THC

Greener Light

The wider context of this story goes back to the the late Police and Crime Commissioner of Durham, Ron Hogg who in 2015 spoke publicly about his force’s policy of differentiating the relative harm caused by the minor offences of cannabis possession and small-scale growing from the more serious offences of large-scale production and gang activity. His article in the Northern Echo (22/07/15) foreshadowed what is happening in the Midlands: police forces have “scant resources” Hogg wrote, and must exercise “discretion” when it comes to dealing with the crimes which cause the most harm to individuals and society. “There is nothing new about discretion in policing” he observed. He pointed out that it is the scale, dangerous production methods and criminal underworld associated with cannabis which cause the most harm and which the public are best served by being protected from. He unabashedly favoured policies which foster a holistic approach to harm-reduction – which include reducing the harm which can come from users being criminalised, as well as the harms caused to individuals by drugs and to society by drug gangs. Hogg was forward-thinking and unprecedented in his outspokenness: most law enforcement officers wait until they are no longer serving before they criticise failures of drug policy. He was forced to exercise careful discretion in order to reconcile ever-tightening budgets with the duty to protect the public from the harms which are an unintended consequence of the current system. In so doing he actively attempted to mitigate systemic weaknesses as he saw them. If Chief Constable Dave Thompson is following anyone’s lead, it is PCC Hogg’s, and Assistant Chief Constable Harwin has had to clarify this progressive initiative in order to damp down tabloid hysteria.

The Final Word

The Home Office responded to Harwin’s statement by saying that “police chiefs are expected to enforce the law” and that “possession of cannabis is a criminal offence.” This overlooks PCC Hogg’s central point about the need to exercise discretion when it comes to prosecutions based on the relativity of harms attributable to varying cannabis-related offences. In other words, the Home Office is completely opposed of the holistic approaches to harm-reduction favoured by these PCCs. It is THC’s contention that such a rational approach is welcome, needed and long overdue.

*The NPCC includes the 43 police forces in England and Wales

Update (16/04/19)

A few days after this blog was published, former North Wales PCC Arfon Jones made a similar call for the regulation of cannabis and the right to grow your own, in order to keep cannabis away from criminal gangs. He favours a licensed and regulated market like that of alcohol and tobacco – which he notes are more harmful – that includes sale by licensed vendors and restricted to adults (18 or 21). He points out that 100,000s of people probably already grow cannabis in the UK and that they shouldn’t be punished because “they aren’t harming anyone.” He also addresses the financial issue head on, saying that austerity has lead to North Wales police having £30 million of cuts since 2010, meaning they are tightly squeezed and must prioritise their policing (ie. exercise discretion). He suggests “we need to be focusing instead on the supply of illegal substances because of the violence associated with it, the problems it causes and the exploitation of young people and vulnerable people.” He echoes the concern raised by PCC Harwin that a “conviction for minor cannabis possession can blight a person’s future career,” and he also highlighted what he sees as the “exploitation” by “commercial organisations [who] have taken over the medicinal cannabis market and are selling prescriptions at a vast cost even though it is cheap to grow.” His approach can be classified as one of “harm-reduction,” mirroring a trend in police commissioners (current and former) calling for the end to the prohibition of cannabis.

Update (28/01/20)

Ronn Hogg sadly passed away on December 17, 2019. You can read his obituary here.

–The High Commissioner