POLICE CHIEF IS GOING SOFT ON CANNABIS

POT SHOT: Orr says targeting dope users is 'waste of resources'

SCOTLAND'S top policeman yesterday claimed that arresting cannabis smokers
would be a waste of time and money.

In an exclusive Record interview, Strathclyde Chief Constable John Orr
said: "I could send officers out today and they could arrest 5000 people
smoking cannabis."

But he said that would be "a waste of my officers' resources" and stressed
his main target was "the dealers of death".

Orr insisted he was by no means advocating the legalisation of cannabis and
added: "It's a matter of priorities in how we police the drugs debate.

"If you allocate inordinate resources - very scarce valuable resources - to
attempt to identify every person that is smoking cannabis you take your eye
off the ball with the more serious hard drugs.

"All I am saying is that I think it would be a waste of valuable police
resources to go out there targeting cannabis smokers when there are more
insidious individuals out there killing people."

Orr, whose brother Jim is head of the new Scottish Drugs Enforcement
Agency, is understood to accept that public attitudes to cannabis use are
changing.

But he dismissed suggestions that there was no link between cannabis and
harder drugs.

He said: "That is not the case. A dealer will sell you, or anybody,
cannabis, coke, heroin and all sorts of pills at the one time."

He also ridiculed claims that it was a happy drug with no negative
consequences for society.

Orr said: "There is evidence of a small number of people who mix alcohol
with cannabis and it can have quite an effect on them.

"There is also evidence of long-term cannabis users who graduate to harder
drugs and end up as one of our unfortunate drug deaths.

"If you look at the history of sad drug deaths we have had, some of them
started on cannabis."

However, the chief constable does support calls for an inquiry into the use
of cannabis for medicinal purposes.

He said: "There is a growing body of evidence that it can have benefits for
people who suffer from arthritis and other diseases.

"So let's have a debate about the therapeutic benefits of cannabis - I
think it is quite proper that it should be the subject of real scientific
and legal assessment."

Orr warned that any move to legalise cannabis for medicinal use would need
tough new laws to stop people abusing the system.

He is particularly worried that prescriptions could be sold or passed on to
others and said: "Any change would need to be well thought-out and
well-regulated so we don't get into the mire that some other European
countries are in at the moment."

Orr's views on the subject are worth listening to - he has presided over a
five per cent drop in the number of misuse of drugs cases in the last year.

That figure will be confirmed later today when the chief constable has the
welcome task of revealing that crime in Strathclyde - the country's largest
force area - has tumbled to a 20-year low.

The total number of reported crimes has fallen by 15,000 - or almost seven
per cent.

Robberies, break-ins, drug offences, vandalism and motoring crimes - the
areas of most public concern - are all down.

The only blip is in the area of violent crime, where the figures have shown
a big increase. Murders, for example, have risen by 26 to 85 - but all of
these cases have been solved.

Orr said: "If you talk to the public, or survey them as we do, it is clear
what concerns them.

"It's housebreakings, cars getting broken into, street disorder, dog
fouling that they talk about. They don't like their tranquility being
eroded by being perceived to be threatened by yobbos at a street corner or
by people behaving threateningly at a bus shelter.

"These are the kind of things people worry about."

The chief constable added: "They will never mention murder. There have been
80-odd murders in a population of 2.5million in Strathclyde in the last year.

"Every murder is a tragedy for the relatives that are left - last year we
cleared up every one of them."

Orr denied that his tough policing style, which has involved mounting a
series of high-profile crackdowns on individual crimes, was based on harsh
New York-style tactics.

He insisted: "This is not zero tolerance."

He added: "It is all about disruptive policing. Yes, you take flak with that.

"Yes, I sometimes get civil libertarians, quite properly, saying to me that
perhaps the public don't like this.

"But where are the complaints? I have received no complaints from members
of the public."

Orr said his job was to give people confidence to go about their lives
without fear.

And what might seem insignificant things - like children ringing the door
bells of old people or vandals digging up someone's prized plants - were
very important to the victims.

Orr said: "A woman in her 70s said to me the other day, 'What are you doing
about these people chewing gum?'

"She was pointing out all the chewing gum which had impacted into the
street and wanted to know what the police were doing about it.

"I don't mind that. If ever we have a time when the public don't expect the
police to do something, then we shouldn't be here.

"What I have to do is listen to the public - reflect what the public tell me."

With just over 12 months to go until he steps down from the top job, the
chief constable has no plans to soften his stance.

He said: "I will not be deflected from what I think is right on behalf of
the public.

"If that means occasionally sticking my head above the parapet then, yes, I
think the public expect me to do that."