You’ve got to admit, it’s not often you see that sort of headline, is it? What prompted this? Cocaine amongst the campanulas? Heroin concealed amongst the hollyhocks?
Well, no. Amazing as it may seem, it you sell legal equipment and aren’t asking any questions about the use to which your customers might be putting it, the fuzz will come calling:
The operation came after five months of work where officers visited the premises and were able to demonstrate a clear link between the behaviour of the staff and the promotion of cannabis production.
West Midlands Police were so proud of this they Tweeted it (they probably think they need all the good publicity they can get, after all), which prompted a lot of mockery:
But is it really that funny? Or is it a sad reflection on what the police farce has become in recent years?
No, it’s not funny. Rather the police using their expensive time on such matters appears to be a joke. How much did the exercise cost, how many legitimate prosecutions were made; how many drug dealers were removed from circulation; has the effort produced any tangible benefit to those who the police are being paid to serve and protect?
Agreed.
What’s more to the point is: “Does it really matter to anyone if people are growing cannabis anyway?”
Its illegality is only due to the machinations of a few industrialists and their now-out-of-a-job relatives who were the prohibition police. The industrialists wanted to destroy the hemp industry, and the prohibition department post-prohibition needed something to do. Bingo! Reefer Madness hit the silver screen and a whole new prohibition industry was born. DuPont wiped out the competition and the prohibition department renamed itself the Narcotics Bureau. Job done.
From the first linked article; “we have found that most criminal gangs will be involved in cannabis in some way as it is low risk”
Well, there’s a frickin’ clue right there, Sherlock !