Sell heroin in the chemist, says police chief
A top police chief went out-on-a-limb yesterday, arguing the sale of heroin should be made legal.
Richard Brunstrom, Chief Constable of North Wales Police, contended he was willing to see the Class A drug sold through Government-agencies as the present drug laws were doing “more harm than good,” as vulnerable people remained in danger.
The illegal status of heroin and other drugs was compared to the prohibition of alcohol in 1920s America, where crooks made huge profits trading drink on the black market.
He told BBC Wales’s Dragon’s Eye programme, broadcast last night: “The question is actually not ‘Am I prepared to see the Government selling heroin on the street corner or through the pharmacy?’ but ‘Why would we not want to do that? What is wrong with that?
“That’s the question we should be asking. It’s a very challenging question.
“I don’t know what society’s answer is, but my answer is that is what we should be doing because our current policy is causing more harm than good.”
In 2001, Mr Brunstrom stated the only way to win the war on drugs was to legalise all narcotics.
The outspoken senior police chief said the public was with him on undertaking a “no-holds barred, all-options considered” review of drugs legislation.
North Wales Jeff Evans, who is suing the chief constable over allegations of poor policing standards, said Mr Brunstrom’s arguments were scandalous: “We want drug abuse out and want criminals on our streets sorted out.
“The chief constable is trying to take the easy way out, he is basically saying if we can’t beat it then we should join it.”
Andy Hayman, spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) and Chief Constable of Norfolk, said Acpo did not support the legalisation or open sale of any controlled drug.
Dragon’s Eye was broadcast at 2030 GMT on BBC 2W and at 2230 GMT on BBC1 Wales last night.
Leader of the Commons Peter Hain last night warned of the “extreme dangers of legalising heroin.”
Mr Hain told the BBC he did not agree with Mr Brunstrom’s “astonishing proposition.”
‘We have to clampdown on the drug dealers and drugs traffickers who are often in gangs that are involved in gun crime and a lot of violence, so the idea that it should be legalised seems to me an astonishing proposition’, Mr Hain said.
