Mr. Nick Glynn:

I agree with everything said. I would not endorse more powers for the police; it has plenty already. This is really a matter for the local authority and local communities, taking into account their contexts to see what measures are needed. Sensible measures like an exclusion zone around schools and nurseries seem sensible to me, but they are context specific in different geographies. This is a matter of principle, in that it is a health- and education-led approach as opposed to a criminal justice one in which the police is the primary player. The police has plenty of powers and does not need anymore to be able to deal with the small number of people who may use drugs in a public space in a problematic way.

The smoking of cannabis is an interesting issue in its own because it is just people smoking. One of the reasons it makes people feel unsafe is because of all of the hype of the war on drugs and the media about how dangerous all of these things are. There is almost a public education needed there for people to realise that cannabis smoking in and of itself, in a non-excessive way, is not something to be afraid of. There is an education requirement there that the State should undertake.