CITY CENTRE TROUBLE IS ALCOHOL-RELATED SAYS CAMPAIGNER

Are dogs best way to tackle city disorder?

Sir I didn't know whether to laugh or cry when I read in the Mail that
Humberside police are to use sniffer dogs to catch recreational drug
users in Beverley and Bridlington as "part of a campaign to stop the
towns being turned into crime and disorder hotspots on Saturday nights".

It may come as a surprise, but the screaming women and aggressive
young men vomiting and urinating in doorways, vandalising property and
attacking innocent passers by aren't on illegal drugs. Their behaviour
is due to alcohol, the socially acceptable, taxable drug which,
ironically helps pay for the sniffer dogs, drug raids and heavy-handed
police tactics that make sensational vote-winning headlines about the
"war on drugs".

This latest police sniffer dog operation is no more than a PR exercise
designed to show support for a government drugs policy in chaos, and
has more to do with controlling people's personal choices than keeping
our streets safe.

Many people are too frightened of drunken yobs attacking them to
venture out on a Saturday night, with some too frightened to go out at
all.

These people deserve to know why it's appropriate to pull peaceful pot
smokers from nightclub queues rather than arrest violent drunks.

Carl Wagner

Legalise Cannabis Alliance