{"id":1190039,"date":"2022-01-05T09:20:21","date_gmt":"2022-01-05T14:20:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1190039"},"modified":"2022-01-05T09:20:25","modified_gmt":"2022-01-05T14:20:25","slug":"londons-khan-moves-to-decriminalise-cannabis-choosing-counselling-over-arrest-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/londons-khan-moves-to-decriminalise-cannabis-choosing-counselling-over-arrest-report\/","title":{"rendered":"London\u2019s Khan Moves To Decriminalise Cannabis, Choosing Counselling over Arrest: Report"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Flondons-khan-moves-to-decriminalise-cannabis-choosing-counselling-over-arrest-report%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1190039&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/GettyImages-1228706324-640x335-1.png\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"subheading\">London\u2019s leftist mayor, Sadiq Khan is&nbsp;reportedly&nbsp;planning to effectively decriminalise marijuana for those under the age of 25 in the British capital.<\/p>\n<p>Under leaked plans, young offenders caught with Class B drugs such as cannabis would be offered drug counselling instead of being arrested and would even be driven home by officers to their family homes instead of to the police station.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>The scheme is expected to be first introduced this year in three boroughs of South London: Lewisham, Bexley and Greenwich,&nbsp;<em>The Telegraph<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/politics\/2022\/01\/03\/sadiq-khan-begin-decriminalising-drugs-london\/\">claims<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>While it will remain illegal to possess these drugs, as the mayor does not have the authority to actually change the law, Khan\u2019s office is understood to have reached an agreement with the Metropolitan Police that they will simply turn a blind eye. Under the alleged plan, police won\u2019t prosecute people in the three areas and instead refer them to the new scheme which will be run by youth workers.<\/p>\n<p>The policy is still in its infancy, so at this stage, it\u2019s unclear how Khan will draw a line between drug dealers and drug users, however, it is expected that the programme will only apply to those caught with a&nbsp;\u201csmall amount\u201d of cannabis.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>The paper also revealed that other Class B drugs, such as ketamine and speed, would likely be included in the decriminalisation programme. Currently, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nidirect.gov.uk\/articles\/drugs-and-crime\">penalties for possession<\/a> of Class B drugs vary from case to case, but the maximum sentence for possession of Class B drugs is \u201cup to five years in prison or an unlimited fine (or both)\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>In comments made to Sky News, the mayor\u2019s spokesman <a href=\"https:\/\/news.sky.com\/story\/cannabis-users-in-london-to-avoid-prosecution-under-plans-from-mayor-sadiq-khan-12508734\">rejected<\/a> that Mr Khan is planning to \u201cdecriminalise\u201d drugs, saying that the Labour Party mayor \u201cfirmly believes that drug use, and its related crimes, are preventable and not inevitable\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe know that we\u2019ll never be able to simply arrest our way out of the problem, which is why we continue to work on schemes that provide young people with support and education, rather than simply putting them through the criminal justice system \u2013 with the aim of diverting them away from drug use and crime for good,\u201d they added.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Khan\u2019s London: Teen Killed in Machete Attack in Broad Daylight on Iconic Oxford Street <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/APs3SHIafD\">https:\/\/t.co\/APs3SHIafD<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BreitbartLondon\/status\/1292412305825771521?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 9, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Commenting on Khan\u2019s mooted drug strategy, a government source told&nbsp;<em>The<\/em> <em>Telegraph<\/em>:<em>&nbsp;<\/em>\u201c2021 was the worst year for teenage killings in London, so decriminalising a major driver of youth violence probably isn\u2019t the answer.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>Before the London mayoral election last year, Khan said that if he secured a second term, he wished to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhs.uk\/live-well\/healthy-body\/cannabis-the-facts\/\">campaign to decriminalise cannabis<\/a> in the British capital, despite&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/europe\/2021\/04\/06\/london-mayor-khan-looks-to-decriminalise-marijuana-to-puff-up-re-election-bid\/\">concerns<\/a> that&nbsp;marijuana usage could increase the risk of developing mental illnesses, in particular&nbsp;schizophrenia.<\/p>\n<p>The Labour Party-run mayoral office reportedly believes that reducing police focus on drugs would allow offices to spend more time on tackling violent crime.<\/p>\n<p>Since Khan took over as Mayor of London in 2016 violent crime has seen a sharp increase, with over <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/europe\/2021\/11\/13\/khans-london-one-dead-two-shot-and-elderly-woman-critical\/\">100 murders<\/a> occurring during every year of his tenure. Last year, London also saw a record number of youth murders, with 30 under-18s killed in the capital.<\/p>\n<p>Although official statistics for homicides have yet to be released, it is&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/europe\/2022\/01\/02\/khans-london-2021-was-record-year-for-youth-murder\/\">estimated<\/a> that there were 127 murder and manslaughter cases of all kinds across London in 2021. Of those, 80 were said to have been perpetrated with a knife or sharp instrument, 18 with no weapon, and 12 with firearms.<\/p>\n<p>On top of his poor record of tackling violent crime, the leftist mayor has also heaped praise on rappers that glorify violence, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/politics\/2020\/03\/01\/mayor-london-isnt-fooling-anyone-cynical-grime-grandstanding\/\">saying<\/a> in February of 2020 doing a London Assembly budget meeting that he would \u201crather invest in future Dave\u2019s and Stormzy\u2019s than future victims of crime\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Both <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk\/tvandshowbiz\/9599377\/rapper-dave-backlash-murderer-brother-track\/\">Dave<\/a> and Stormzy are London \u2018grime\u2019 rap artists who at times glorify <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/health\/article-5183953\/Grime-music-fueling-use-skunk-expert-warns.html\">drug use<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetimes.co.uk\/article\/rapper-s-violent-lyrics-score-an-own-goal-7rv0mjcbs\">violence<\/a> in their songs. Stormzy sometimes <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=DAYOklbLtXw\">uses<\/a> the alter ego \u201cWicked Skengman\u201d \u2013 which is London slang for \u2018wicked knife man\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>His songs feature lyrics such as \u201cBig 45 might bun out your clart\u201d, which is slang for shooting someone, or&nbsp;more sickeningly assaulting someone in the anus \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-7795941\/Medics-reveal-humiliating-new-trend-gang-knife-attacks.html\">a tactic used by some London gangs to ensure that their victims will require a colostomy bag<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Sadiq Khan&#8217;s London is a horror show. \u201cLondon has sadly become the acid attack hotspot in the western world,\u201d Dr. Harding said <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/slKfIIKa3N\">https:\/\/t.co\/slKfIIKa3N<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BreitbartNews\/status\/1167246837025316864?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 30, 2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>London\u2019s leftist mayor, Sadiq Khan is\u00a0reportedly\u00a0planning to effectively decriminalise marijuana for those under the age of 25 in the British capital. Under leaked plans, young offenders caught with Class B &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":349,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1190039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1190039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/349"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1190039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1190039\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1190039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1190039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1190039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}