YOUR SHOUT

THERE is more sympathy in Brixton for Brian Paddick personally than there is
for his liberal approach to soft drugs. Most people in the Prince of Wales
on Coldharbour Lane thought Mr Paddick, until recently police chief in the
area, had been mistreated when he was suspended over claims about his
private life.

Dawn Campbell, whose parents came to Britain from Jamaica, said: "The people
who sacked him are hypocrites. I don't think he should have been sacked but
I think his drugs policy just brings a certain type of people back into the
area. More people are drug-dealing now, and they use the tolerance of soft
drugs as a cover to sell hard drugs."

Daniel McAdams, the pub's assistant manager, said Mr Paddick's tolerance of
cannabis use had made it harder to enforce the pub's no-drugs rule: "I'm
sure he's a lovely man but I don't think this is the correct area for a
passive stance. Since this cannabis legalisation it's made my job more
difficult because people come in to the pub and roll up or say, 'All I've
got to do is walk outside and do it - why can't I do it in here?' I say,
'It's quite all right for you to do it outside but you can't do it in here'.

"We have a problem with the toilets here. Some of the crack users will come
in and try to use our toilets, which does create a problem when we explain
to them that they can't. My other complaint is that at night the dealers
come out all along Coldharbour Lane, and arresting them is no longer an easy
task for the police. If I go out for a drink after I've locked up I'm
willing to bet I'll be offered skunk [marijuana], pills [ecstasy], charlie
[cocaine] and also brown [heroin]."

Many people complained of feeling unsafe after dark in Brixton. Shane
Glasgow, whose mother came to Britain from Guyana, said: "There's a lot of
black-on-black violence now. As a black person I think it's more risky."

Karina Greenslade, who cooks at the pub and lives above, said: "I walk down
this bit of road with the dogs last thing at night and I get asked if I want
drugs about five times. A single white female at night: you don't need the
hassle."

Another woman said: "It's got a lot worse since they decriminalised
cannabis. It's really blanket drug-dealing now - right in your face."

But while some people want a clampdown on all drugs, others were fervent in
their support for Mr Paddick's policy of decriminalising cannabis, as long
as this was accompanied by a much harsher approach to hard drugs.

A chef whose parents came to Britain from Jamaica said: "I'm on the side of
relaxing the use of cannabis. Everyone's taking it, a lot of people, and
it's easy to get. But hard drugs, I'd be heavy on stuff like that, cutting
down on the import and the big money-makers. I think there should be more
police walking about and getting to know the people."

John Sullivan was incensed by the way Mr Paddick had been suspended after a
Sunday newspaper reported allegations against him: "I think it's appalling.
The community round here were all saying he'd done so much good for their
everyday life."

Another man, born in Nigeria but resident here for 20 years, said: "No
matter what you do to people, what they're going to do is what they're going
to do. Cannabis is a soft drug. I've been smoking it from the age of 12 to
the age of 35 and it hasn't killed me. In Africa they boil cannabis and
drink it because of yellow fever."

One man proposed tolerance of hard as well as soft drugs: "I believe that
all drugs should be legalised. You're never going to stop heroin addicts. If
it was legal it wouldn't be adulterated."