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London Mayor Calls For Changes To Cannabis Enforcement Practices

By Johnny Green

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In most developed countries people have a basic set of rights. Those basic rights could be the result of legislation, the nation’s constitutional provisions, or court decisions. However they were created, basic rights are essential to citizens of every nation and they should be universally accepted and protected worldwide.

Unfortunately, cannabis prohibition has served as a tool to get around many of those basic legal rights. Once a law enforcement official determines that cannabis may be present, that’s all it takes for many basic legal protections to be tossed aside. Keep in mind that cannabis doesn’t actually have to be present – just the allegation thereof.

It’s a tactic that is employed by law enforcement all over the globe, including in London where a horrific scenario unfolded recently in which law enforcement searched a teenage girl in a very violating manner, all in an attempt to find the cannabis that they claimed the teenager was in possession of. The details of the search are graphic, and readers should be cautious when researching it.

I am hopeful that the victim that was subjected to the police brutality seeks and receives justice in some manner, although it will never be enough to make up for what they were subjected to. It’s a traumatic experience that I assume will negatively impact them the rest of their life, and that is unacceptable. The public outcry regarding the situation has resulted in London’s Mayor calling for changes to cannabis enforcement. Per excerpts from London World:

Sadiq Khan has demanded the Met Police bring in stricter controls over stop and search policing when the “smell of cannabis” is the sole grounds for the intervention.

The London mayor has released his plan for policing in the capital over the next three years.

The mayor said his priorities were reducing and preventing violent crime; rebuilding trust and confidence in the police; supporting victims; and protecting people from criminal exploitation.

The plan also includes “stricter oversight and scrutiny of the ‘smell of cannabis’ used as sole grounds for stop and search”, as well as “developing community-led training for officers”.

The mayor’s plan is obviously something, but it clearly doesn’t go far enough. Training officers is not enough. Providing “stricter oversight” is not enough. The only thing that will prevent this from happening again is to end cannabis prohibition.

Obviously, the Mayor of London alone cannot end cannabis prohibition in England. However, they can champion the issue wholeheartedly and be a major voice calling for a complete end to cannabis prohibition in England and beyond.

It’s unfortunate that this latest example of the horrors of cannabis prohibition occurred at all. Hopefully the public outcry doesn’t subside and the citizens of London and beyond keep the pressure on lawmakers to introduce, pass, and implement sensible cannabis policies.

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