The Hounslow Chronicle Thursday 17th 2008
Two statements appear in this paper in two different articles and they show a strange attitude to upholding the law and public decency.In one on page 6 in an article concerning gay men having sex in public places such as Gunnersbury triangle (the local nature reserve visited by children) ch insp Andy Morgan insisted the practice was not a major issue in the borough and rarely provoked complaints it’s not a crime unless someone says it is. It usually happens late at night in secluded places and between consenting adults.Having spent time having to clear up the area of Osterley by Windmill lane also, used by the cottaging/ cruising/ dogging fraternity, I say it is. The whole area was full of rubbish old needles and discarded Durex. My children, now teenagers visited the Triangle many times as they grew up and many small children still do. The idea that this is not a problem is wrong, ask anyone doing community service about their experience of clearing up these sites if you doubt the seriousness of this problem.On page nine ch insp. Andy Morgan takes a different stance on a illegal practice also often carried out late at night between consenting adults only this time in the privacy of their own homes and with out turning public places into cess pits of discarded filth.I am talking about consuming cannabis. On this issue we get this rant from ch insp Mogan who believes downgrading cannabis has sent the wrong message to users and dealers. When Cannabis became declassified (it should have been but it wasn’t, it was downgraded) dealers thought the potential for them to be caught convicted and sentenced had been reduced, he said. (Why the penalties applicable under class B are the same as under Class C for these types of offences)It created an artificial belief we wouldn’t do much about people importing cannabis.Cannabis clearly leads to other crimes because there are big profits to be made (only because it’s illegal Andy)Also as people become unstable (after smoking the drug) they become more of a problem. (The percentage of those who may become unstable is very small and in the words of Professor Stanley Zammit one of the authors of the critical overview published in the lancet and misquoted by the right wing press and other fascist types.“In conclusion we found that the evidence concerning mental illness and cannabis to be inconclusive”).They can become involved in harassment, intimidation and other offences. (Sounds more like alcohol users to me or perhaps police officers enforcing the cannabis laws in my experience.So as I understand it there a two types of laws one were people can be kept terrorised in their home for matters of individual choice over life style and one were you can outrage public decency by taking it up the rear in public and leaving your discarded filth all over the place and that’s ok. What hypocrisy!
Philip Walsh ● 6723d0 Comments