Dear Sir,
It was highly gratifying this week to read the rebuttal from our police of the crazy policy suggested from Police and Crime Commissioner Ron Hogg.
Mr Hogg would appear to support a policy of restorative justice and turning a blind eye to drugs as the way forward for Durham Constabulary.
The statement from Mr Hogg caused uproar in the media and was a source of dismay to those of us who support law and order in our communities.
Let me propose an alternative view which is perhaps more in tune with public opinion.
Capital punishment for those who would take a life.
Life in prison for those who would wilfully ruin someone else’s life such as rapists and child molestors.
Full frontal lobotomy for burglars who steal a lifetimes memories from our elderly.
Public flogging possibly at football stadiums as half time entertainment for fraudsters who prey on the vulnerable.
Unpaid labour in the community and in the workplace for those who terrorise neighbourhoods with the profit going back into financing the above.
Which policy would you support.
Cannabis is not a harmless drug when used for recreational purposes, it allegedly lowers reaction times, supports local crime, and results in paranoia.
Many companies and organisations test employees for signs of drug use and if found to be positive disciplinary action is taken. One assumes that the police forces themselves are strictly drug free too.
At a healthwatch meeting some time ago a lady was applauded for managing to get free from drugs after many years enslaved by them. Her story tells of stealing and all manner of unsavoury ways in which she got the money to feed her habit including selling weed to children who presumably are now hooked themselves and busily getting an even younger generation hooked.
How did the lady manage to break her habit, she was jailed and had to break her habit in prison, from leaving prison she moved to a new area and has managed to stay clean ever since. The lady declares that had she returned to her home town she would have been encouraged to regain the habit within days.
It must be said that cannabis is an illegal drug and that it will remain that way until Parliament decides otherwise. It is the role of our police to uphold the law not make it.
My personal view is quite extreme on the subject of law and order, however at present I am allowed to express my views but it begs the question for how much longer?
Ken Robson