CONTROVERSIAL COPPER FUELS DRUGS DEBATE

NORTH Wales top cop Richard Brunstrom started the New Year in his
usual controversial way by going on Radio 4 to say ecstasy was safer
than aspirin, and that all drugs would be legal within a decade.

What a plonker. His prohibition argument seems to make sense when he
argues that legalising drugs would destroy a major source of
organised crime, and that banning substances doesn't actually stop
many people from using them. But we all know deep down that
legalising drugs would eventually lead to a far greater problem and
would be a terrible curse on society.

You don't have to look any further than what the Labour government
has done with alcohol and cannabis to realise that greater access to
drugs leads to more problems, not less. New Year's Eve celebrations
this year were worse than any as emergency services dealt with
alcohol-related incidents and fights.

South Wales Police said there was a definite increase in the number
of 999 calls compared to last year with a staggering 1,300 emergency
calls between midnight and 6am. Dyfed-Powys Police also had to deal
with more calls this year, 180 last year, 230 this year.

It was worse in the rest of the UK. London paramedics dealt with
1,825 calls by 4am, an increase of 16 per cent on the previous year.
The West Midlands had 1,400 calls in four hours, and 2,000 calls were
received in Scotland, a rise of 22 per cent.

Remember what Tony Blair said? Something about that 24-hour drinking
would make us more civilised, and if there was alcohol available all
the time people would drink less - just like in France. We all knew
at the time that that was utter rubbish.

The binge-drinking culture doesn't keep to those continental rules.
It has its own simple rule: more drink available for longer hours,
will lead to more drink being drunk for longer hours.

And the result was always obvious - mayhem on our streets and more
young people at serious risk from dying of alcohol-related deaths.

Those are the dire consequences when you get rid of any kind of
prohibition, and that is exactly what would happen if you legalise hard drugs.

How would you go about telling young people not to take cocaine or
heroin if it was legal? If it's legal why shouldn't they take it? And
if they like it, why shouldn't they have more of it?

And by then the dealers will be savvy enough to know that they would
have to drop their prices to compete with the legal stuff, and once
hooked, you will still see crooks selling it and criminals stealing
to pay for it. Or is Richard Brunstrom (inset) also suggesting that
he gives it away for free?

Downgrading cannabis was meant to enable the police to spend more
time tackling Class A drugs. But magistrates are now calling for
tougher laws as more and more young children are arrested for
offences of theft and robbery to feed their cannabis habit. Even more
adults have started to take cannabis, and it's no coincidence that
Britain is now top of the European league for cocaine use among 15 to
34-year-olds.

Richard Brunstrom and his supporters argue that the current laws
aren't working. Maybe they're not, but downgrading cannabis has also
proved that relaxing the current laws doesn't work either. In the
same way as longer drinking hours has led to more alcohol-related
problems on our streets, downgrading cannabis has led to more people
taking drugs, and harder ones at that.

Maybe Wales didn't suffer the very worst in alcohol-related
incidences over the New Year, but the worst photograph was taken in
Cardiff. Six very young girls had their photos in the Daily Mail -
and on the front page of the Express - wearing nothing but white
knickers and white scarves, white leg warmers and high heels.

One of them was minus the high heels - barefoot walking in the city
centre. These girls didn't look pretty or clever. It was the most
depressing photograph, and proof of how the standards of decency too
have been downgraded in the last few years.

Richard Brunstrom should think about his own force's inability to
deal with drug pushers instead of preaching for the easier option of
just legalising the lot of them.

He has zero tolerance for hapless drivers who might be caught driving
just a couple of miles faster than the limit, it's about time he
concentrated on those who take drugs and cause real harm to society.