Sadiq Khan wants to make drugs less criminalized in London, and he also plans to stop the prosecutions of youths caught using cannabis.
London Mayor to offer counselling and speeding classes for under-25s who are caught with Class A drugs (which include cannabis) instead of arrest.
According to The Telegraph, rules for the new scheme will apply to Lewisham, Greenwich, and Bexley boroughs.
The police will not arrest any young drug users, including speed or cannabis.
Instead, they will be returned to their homes by the police and not sent to jail.
Sadiq Khan, a reputed London decriminalizer of drugs and wants to abolish the criminalization of cannabis use among young people.
London’s Mayor has announced that under-25s who are caught with Class-B drugs, which includes cannabis, will be allowed to take speeding courses or receive counselling rather than being arrested. Pictured: In April, thousands of marijuana fans flocked to Hyde Park to openly smoke cannabis as they celebrated ‘420 day’
The move is less than one month after Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, announced major reforms to recreational drug abuse.
He warned middle class users he will not sit ‘idly by’ and let them fund crime and said they faced being stripped of their passports and driving licences under new curbs.
Labour leader Sir Keir Sternmer was director of public prosecutions in the days before he joined Parliament. He previously stated that he doesn’t believe decriminalization should be attempted in England.
According to reports, Mr Khan’s plan will be revealed this month by Lewisham Mayor Damien Egan.
This new policy was based upon research that suggests police would rather spend their time on serious, violent crimes instead of penalizing those who are caught using cannabis.
Amnesty plans may extend to all classes of Class B drugs. This would mean that amphetamines and ketamines (popularly called’speed’) could also be decriminalised.
According to reports, Mr Khan’s plan will be made public this month. It will be led by Damien Egan, the mayor of Lewisham.
Similar plans have been tried before by the West Midlands police force and Crime Commissioners of Somerset, Durham and West Midlands.
As they celebrated “420 Day”, thousands of cannabis fans came to Hyde Park in April to smoke openly.
However, Mr Khan’s plan could conflict with the PM’s determination to be’very harsh’ against drug addicts.
He said last month: ‘What we’re also saying is we’re not going to sit idly by when you have lifestyle users also using Class A drugs, and we’re going to be coming down tougher on them,’ he said.
“We’re looking into ways to address those lifestyle drug users that don’t believe they’re part of the problem. The problem is being created by all of the demand.
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