Should police try to help cannabis users rather than charge them with a criminal offence? Durham's Police and Crime Commissioner Ron Hogg says the force has not gone soft on drugs

REDUCING harm. Harm to communities and harm to individuals. Everything I say or do about drugs is rooted in this aim.

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So when I say I don’t want to see small time personal users prosecuted, it’s because I don’t think it’s the best way of tackling harm. Nor do I think it is the best use of the scant resources of the police or the courts.

Cannabis divides opinion. To some, it’s a hugely harmful drug connected with psychosis. To others, it’s a painkiller that some people turn to for help, particularly with conditions like arthritis and rheumatism. And this has led some places, like Colorado, in the US, to legalise it for medicinal purposes.

What is beyond doubt is that people who grow, produce, and deal in illegal drugs are exploitative criminals who are causing misery to thousands.

As such Durham Constabulary takes the production, distribution and use of drugs very seriously. The police work in partnership with the councils, directors of public health and the fire service to deliver drug strategies to people that are effective, while continuing to target the organised criminals who seek to make a profit by shattering the lives of others. And over the past 12 months Durham Constabulary has issued 343 cannabis warnings to users – one almost every day.

Organised crime groups produce cannabis.

They steal electricity to help the crop grow, causing fires and endangering neighbourhoods, and exploiting vulnerable people by putting them to work. But there are different scales of cannabis production which will receive different police responses and outcomes. The police will seek out, detect and tackle all cannabis production – and prosecute where they can. But I’m sure that the public would expect the police to treat the serious and organised crime gangs engaged in mass production more severely than smaller producers. There is nothing new about discretion in policing.

I will continue to offer my support to frontline officers, allowing them to use their discretion in managing cases on a daily basis. I encourage methods to prevent or reduce drug use and this includes offering support and advice so offenders can change their behaviour rather than face criminal prosecution – because often this is the best way to reduce harm.

As I explained in an interview I gave to The Northern Echo in December, police and partners across County Durham and Darlington have embarked on an innovative adult offender diversion project named Checkpoint.

It is a ground-breaking way of tacking re-offending. We provide a credible alternative to prosecution by intervening at the earliest opportunity to prevent someone from offending again, by addressing the underlying causes of their offending behaviour.

The project offers offenders a contract – a set of conditions they have to meet to avoid prosecution. The police have offered Checkpoint contracts to several people arrested for drug possession.

One of the likely conditions in their contract would be a requirement to attend appropriate drug treatment. Successful completion of the contract would result in no further criminal action and no criminal conviction. Failure to engage or complete the contract would trigger the prosecution procedures to continue as they would normally do.

The law in relation to the use of illegal drugs is clear. Those found in possession of a Class B Drug such as cannabis can face up to five years imprisonment, or an unlimited fine or both. But it would be better for the offender, and better for society, if they can be helped to recover. That’s how to reduce harm.