Call For Prison Cannabis Trial To See If It Reduces Drug Deaths

A police and crime commissioner (PCC) has called for a prison cannabis trial to see if it could reduce drug-related deaths.

North Wales PCC Arfon Jones said many prisoners take heroin substitutes and smuggled drugs, and he argued these could be far more harmful than marijuana.

Jones believes cannabis could help reduce overdose deaths and violence, as well as helping people overcome opioid addiction.

PA

The 66-year-old former police officer told The Guardian: "If they're on opioids, why can't they be prescribed cannabis?

"At the end of the day, opioids are a damn sight more dangerous than cannabis. It would be an improvement on the illegal spice smuggled in by corrupt prison officers too.

"Let's supply cannabis in controlled conditions and see if offences reduce.

"The aim of the game is to make prisons safer. If they're serious about reducing violence in prisons they should be addressing the causes and that's psychoactive substances. Plus there's a whole range of issues that cannabis would be geared to reduce the risk of."

Jones is not the first to suggest such a scheme. Pharmacologist Dr Stephanie Sharp, a co-founder of Glasgow Expert Witness Service, made a similar appeal in 2018.

According to the Daily Record, she said: "Why aren't prisons able to give them cannabis? It is a much safer alternative. Psychoactive substances like spice are illegal but all they have to do is change a chemical and they become legal again.

"Because we are not addressing the issue of psychoactive drugs, we are condemning people to death in prisons and on the streets.

"We should accept people will take drugs and we should keep them safe by allowing them to get it through pharmacists."

The number of drug finds in prisons in 2019-2020 rose by 18 percent.

A Prison Service spokesperson told The Guardian: "We have a zero-tolerance approach to drugs and work closely with healthcare to support offenders through treatment and recovery."

Topics: UK News, Interesting, Cannabis, Drugs

Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey