Blog: Heckling
“What I hope is the home secretary will come and listen to these people and explain to them why he is thinking of making this go nationwide when we have no evidence of its success here.”
As one resident heckled the Tory leader, arguing that the experiment was working, Mr Duncan Smith added: “I don’t want children in this community to have their lives damaged, to become drug dealers and move into hard drugs.”
Grandmother and foster parent Pauline Cumming, 50, said expanding the experiment would be an “absolute disaster”.
“The dealers have no need to hide now. If the government wanted to try to control drugs, they should have done it in a controlled way in the bars or other places that adults frequent, rather than on the streets.
The home secretary should think again about a drugs experiment “damaging” the lives of young people in London’s Brixton, according to Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith.
The “softly, softly” trial in Lambeth was simply “handing over drugs policy to criminals on the street”, he claimed
Mr Duncan Smith said he had reached this conclusion after talking to Brixton residents with shadow home secretary Oliver Letwin on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, Home Secretary David Blunkett is expected to announce the downgrading of penalties for possession and dealing of cannabis.
Under the Lambeth experiment - introduced a year ago by former Lambeth police commander Brian Paddick - those found carrying small amounts of cannabis are given a warning by police, rather than prosecuted.
