A poll carried out for a UK-based think-tank has found that 66% of police officers believe that the use of cannabis is either ignored or dealt with so lightly that it is in effect ‘decriminalised’.
The anti-drug, Tory-linked think tank The Centre for Social Justice commissioned data company Opinium to survey 250 serving police officers.
“Two thirds (66 per cent) of police officers think cannabis is, to all intents and purposes, fully or partially decriminalised in practice, showing ambiguity and inconsistency in how cannabis laws are interpreted and enforced on the ground,” said a report on the findings of the poll.
Responses from the officers show that nearly three-quarters (74%) feel current drug possession strategies are ‘ineffective’, yet 77% feel drug-related issues take up the majority of their time.
Speaking to The Telegraph, Sophia Worringer, deputy policy director at the CSJ said, “Police officers say that with the resources and time allocated to them, they don’t have the capacity to fight or enforce the cannabis regulation because it is so widespread.
“It’s one of those things where if you went after one person, you’d have to go after all of them, and it’s so blatantly smoked in public places. As people will be aware, the police just don’t have the resources to tackle it.
“From the top, it’s not one of those issues where there is the political leadership from the top to tackle it. There are huge constraints on police time and capability, and this is unfortunately just not a priority within the bounds of the resource that they have.”
Across England and Wales, police forces can apply a degree of discretion when dealing with cannabis possession, and can instead seek out of court resolutions such as cannabis warnings. Some forces also use drug diversion schemes, where people caught in possession of small amounts of drugs such as cannabis avoid prosecutions if certain conditions are met.
According to the drug policy charity Transform, diversion schemes are in place in police forces in England and Wales in Avon & Somerset, Bedfordshire, Cleveland, Devon and Cornwall, Durham, Dyfed-Powys, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Kent, Leicestershire, North Wales, Thames Valley, and the West Midlands.
A 12-month drug diversion pilot run by West Midlands Police showed that 89% of individuals who attended the DIVERT scheme were not subsequently arrested for drug possession offences in the following six months.
In 2023, the Home Affairs Committee called for all police forces in England and Wales to adopt drug diversion schemes.
