Are police quietly relaxing cannabis policy? Possession arrests fall as forces focus on 'other priorities'
Some forces have said changes in stop-and-search techniques, and reduced budgets, have resulted in fewer cannabis offences being recorded
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Your support makes all the difference.Fewer people are being arrested for posession of cannabis because police are "prioritising" other crimes as their budgets are cut, forces have said.
According to The Guardian, offences relating to the drug fell by almost a third between 2011/12 and 2014/15.
A petition to the government for the legalisation of the drug has gathered 225,000 votes - well over the 100,000 needed to be debated in Parliament - in the past few months, and the issue is gaining momentum.
Just last week, a cross-party group of MPs called for cannabis laws to be liberalised.
The reduced figures, obtained by a Freedom of Information request, are not due to fewer people using the drug now than they did in 2010. Then, about 6.5% of adults said they used the drug - now it is about 6.7%.
Superintendent Mark Harrison, the lead on cannabis at Merseyside Police, said there was a reduced use of stop-and-search checks now.
"Increased scrutiny of police stop-search practices has led to more efficient, effective and targeted stop-searches," he told The Guardian.
"Additionally, decreasing police officer numbers will continue to result in fewer stop-searches in the future."
A spokesperson for Gloucestershire police added that budget was an important factor.
"We prioritise different crime areas according to greatest need, and our priorities at this time are safeguarding vulnerable people, tackling dwelling burglaries and violence committed with weapons," they told The Guardian, adding that where resources permitted, they still investigated cannabis cases.
A Metropolitan police spokesperson said there had been no change in policy towards drug use, however, when asked by The Guardian.
The petition to legalise cannabis, begun by James Richard Owen, says a change in the law would "bring in £900m in taxes every year, save £400m on policing cannabis and create over 10,000 new jobs. [It is] a substance that is safer than alcohol, and has many uses. It is believed to have been used by humans for over 4000 years, being made illegal in the UK in 1925."
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