weekend drug use ok?

November 20, 2001 8:25 AM

weekend drug use ok? Interesting article... I hesistate to sign my neam this time though - i wouldn't want to put anyones nose out of joint.
posted by Spoon (14 comments total)

Commander Paddick is a brave man indeed. The tabloids will be in hysterics tomorrow.
posted by dlewis at 8:34 AM on November 20, 2001

All he's saying is that he's got better things to do than arrest a few city boys with a few grams of coke who will just go out and do it next weekend anyway. Fair play to him. It's good to see that some of the insanity and moral righteousness surrounding drugs is beginning to fade.
posted by Summer at 8:36 AM on November 20, 2001

neam is indeed a wonderful plant -- tho' im not sure what value signing your name on it would have anyway. still, i'll stick with good ole american hemp.

OTOH i sure wish i could trade the DC police chief for this british one. (i love the line "he gave evidence to an all-party group of MPs")
posted by danOstuporStar at 8:48 AM on November 20, 2001

Offbeat Copper: "Brian Paddick is on the front line in the war against guns and drugs. But he has a more personal battle to fight - being gay in a macho police force."

"Paddick says his attitude towards [marijuana] is pragmatic rather than liberal, and sidesteps questions about legalisation. He tells the tale of two nightclubs on his patch. One has a reputation for drug-taking. 'I don't have any trouble inside or outside that club, no problems with disorder at all.' Punters at the other venue pay a flat-rate entrance fee and get free alcohol all night. 'I get fights and brawls every weekend. I have never known anyone commit crime to fund a cannabis habit...and you never have cases of people being stoned and disorderly.'"
posted by Carol Anne at 9:04 AM on November 20, 2001

It's good to see that some of the insanity and moral righteousness surrounding drugs is beginning to fade.

I'll believe that when I see the tabloids tomorrow. It's definitely refreshing to see though, I'll agree with you Summer. I wonder if the media will interview that "drugs are bad, mmkay" bloke from the National Posions unit again like they've done with every bloody drugs story for the last 10 years.
posted by dlewis at 9:08 AM on November 20, 2001

I also wonder if Leah Betts' family will go off on one again.
posted by Summer at 9:15 AM on November 20, 2001

ali g - if a drug is a class-a, does that automatically mean it is good quality?
posted by asok at 9:34 AM on November 20, 2001

I hope this kind of thinking spreads across the Atlantic.

Probably too much to hope for.
posted by yesster at 9:43 AM on November 20, 2001

I have always thought that police should spent more time tracking down rapists, murderers and thiefs, and less time busting first-offender cannabis users, who in some states in this odd country called America get really long sentences. You know there is something seriously wrong with the system when rapists sometimes serve less time in prison than someone who got caught with a couple of tinnys.
posted by animoller at 11:36 AM on November 20, 2001

it's more fun at work.
posted by kliuless at 12:08 PM on November 20, 2001

I love this quote from Paddick: "I would say they get some sort of immediate fine in that they have spent £5 to £10 for their cannabis and they don't have it anymore." I can totally cope with that kind of policing! Someone tell me that Paddick wasn't a raver a few years ago, knocking back Es, Ketamine, GHB and poppers at a Turnmills all-nighter.
posted by skylar at 3:34 PM on November 20, 2001

Man... it's a damn shame more people like this aren't in legislative or executive positions. A law enforcement agent who's not giving in to the hysteria about drug use- a man who realizes that the Law is inherently pragmatic, and that his limited time and resources are better spent focusing on those lawbreakers who pose the greatest danger to the community he polices.

Wow... he's just dreamy! :)
posted by hincandenza at 5:42 PM on November 20, 2001

The redtop tabloids will flip once they think that their readership doesn't give a flying fuck about the occasional spliff, toot or pill: the editors and writers aren't usually averse to indulgence themselves. And that's edging slowly towards being the case: after all, even the middle-agers who read those papers grew up through the 60s. Now, the Daily Mail is another thing entirely. And yes: coppers have plenty of pissed, abusive 15-year-olds to be rounding up without trying to nab people on weekenders.
posted by holgate at 8:49 PM on November 20, 2001

How refreshing....

His views, not the spleefs.

:)
posted by skechada at 6:58 AM on November 21, 2001