MAYOR of London Sir Sadiq Khan has backed a dopey proposal – by his own Drugs Commission for the capital – to decriminalise cannabis use in the city.
With already blighted by , and sky-high deaths, this is nothing short of lunacy. I’d love to know what they’ve all been smoking.
There’s plenty to love about London as a young person — the buzz, the bustle and, most importantly, the bars.
But I won’t lie — every evening when my train pulls out of Euston then later into the leafier parts where I live, I breathe a sigh of relief.
Finally, a lungful of air that doesn’t smell like an coffee shop.
In some places in the capital, you’d be lucky to walk a hundred steps without getting hit in the face every 20 seconds by a cloud of skunk smoke.
It has become part of daily life in a city that was once THE place to be.
But London is on the slide. Drug deaths have hit a 25-year high, , and teenagers slash each other in broad daylight.
In the relentless chaos of the city, what young people there need is structure, and safer streets.
So what is Khan offering? A spliff.
, people caught with a small amount of “natural”; cannabis would not be charged.
Selling it would technically still be illegal — but come on, we’re not stupid, this is a clear step towards full-blown legalisation.
It’s a cowardly, half-baked approach to the drugs-and-crime epidemic.
Fine, weed isn’t exactly crack cocaine.
But it ain’t exactly “just a herb”;, either. I know that more people die of alcohol and cigarettes but weed does ruin lives, too.
A study from King’s College London in 2018 found that 94 per cent of cannabis seized in the UK was high-strength skunk — and daily users were five times more likely to develop psychotic disorders.
I’ve seen with my own eyes where it leads, when I visited New York for my daughter’s birthday last year.
Once the concrete jungle where dreams were made — as per that annoyingly catchy Alicia Keys hit — the city that never sleeps is now a playground for the walking dead.
Moral burden
Studies have found that since legalising cannabis in 2021, New York has seen a rise in psychosis, antisocial behaviour, and cannabis-fuelled violence.
Traffic deaths in New York have spiked since marijuana became legal.
Over the border in , where weed has been legal for six years, cannabis- related car crashes have also increased.
But it’s also the message this sends: “Drugs are fine, crack on.”;
And that message sticks.
Especially with young lads already at greater risk of problems, of falling into crime, and of being involved in violence.
What’s worse is that the race card is being waved, as a pathetic attempt to get sceptics on board.
Lord Falconer, who chairs the panel that has come up with these recommendations, says that weed should be decriminalised because stop-and-search for cannabis disproportionately affects young black men.
Do you know what else disproportionately affects young black men?
Being stabbed to death in the street.
Young black men in London are 24 times more likely to die of homicide than are their white counterparts.
This is so often at the hands of other young black men, often over drugs, and usually involving gangs.
They’re more likely to grow up in broken homes, less likely to pass GCSEs and more likely to be groomed into criminality.
And Khan thinks adding more drugs to the mix is the less racist thing to do?
This isn’t just scaremongering on my part.
When the Centre for Social Justice polled young people about cannabis a few years ago, they found nearly a quarter of 18 to 34-year-olds who had never smoked cannabis would try it if it were legal.
Drug-dealing is so linked to violence. Communities are complaining about public drug use and anti-social behaviour . . . It’s not something we’re calling for
Sir Mark Rowley
That’s hundreds of thousands of potential new users — many of whom would eventually be dependent on the stuff, and some of whom would move on to taking harder drugs.
And what of the cost to the public purse? Cannabis is the number one reason children go into drug treatment. Is Khan willing to foot that bill — and that moral burden? I doubt it.
But if you think I’m being a miserable sod, listen to the guy in charge of keeping London’s streets safe.
Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley says of Khan’s plan: “Drug-dealing is so linked to violence. Communities are complaining about public drug use and antisocial behaviour . . . It’s not something we’re calling for.”;
Khan’s plan is the last thing London needs.
Our capital is crying out for safer streets, not limp gimmicks that play well at liberal dinner parties while kids on crime-ridden estates are left to suffer.
What Khan is offering isn’t progress, it’s surrender — to drug culture, to disorder, to decline. If this is his idea of keeping young people safe, he’s not just out of touch, he’s completely out of his depth.
