A leading Conservative county councillor has said the legalisation of drugs should be considered as a solution to growing levels of knife crime in Kent.

Cranbrook county councillor Sean Holden says there is a case for a radical change in the approach the authorities take to drugs.

He says Kent is feeling the ripples of the activities of criminal drug gangs in countries like Columbia.

He said: “Prohibition has created a criminal economy of such wealth that no violence is too gross for its service.”

According to the Office of National Statistics, there has been 152% rise in knife crime in the county between April 2010 and September 2018.

Over that period, offences rose from 346 to 873, equating to 48 crimes per 100,000 people.

Figures obtained by KentOnline last summer showed the actual number of offences in the county could be higher still.

Kent Police data showed knife crime had more than doubled in five years, with 1,322 incidents reported in the 2017-18 financial year.

"People have found spiritual journeys in it, they’ve found artistic inspiration, personal understanding; and fun, fun, fun and many more things..." Cllr Holden

Cllr Holden has set out his argument in a submission to a county council select committee that is examining knife crime in Kent.

He said: “I fear not much consideration will have been given to potentially the most complete answer to the problem - to the most radical change in thinking. That would be to end prohibition – to take the supply of drugs out of the hands of violent criminals.”

He said the authorities should look at countries like Portugal, where a policy of decriminalisation was having an impact.

“The county lines knifing statistics of Kent today provide the opportunity to create a switching point for our views about the nature of the drug scene; about questions of morality; of health policy; of social policy and even political philosophy.”

He says that attempts to curb the use of drugs through health warnings have failed: “One of the notable failures of all the anti-drugs campaigning has been any apparent show of understanding of why people take drugs. You might have thought that was where they should have begun.

“They do it because it ranges from being rather nice to ecstatically beautiful. People have found spiritual journeys in it, they’ve found artistic inspiration, personal understanding; and fun, fun, fun and many more things. That’s why they do it and that’s as far as it goes for most users so they just don’t get or don’t believe the “It screws you up” message. Which is why the state needs to accept it can never close down that market by force.”

He says a change in attitude is needed “to allow society to accept an end to prohibition of all illegal drugs for the sake of its wider health and for individuals whose health is cut back or cut off by the violence of the drug trade.”

Cllr Holden continued: “My hope is that the select committee can conclude that the resolution of knife crime does not lie in conventional social interventions and conventional toughening of police operations but in making a deep delving change in the attitude to the use and supply of drugs.”

He ends his submission: “It would be a significant and brave step if the county council were to find a part solution to knife crime here by lending its authority to a call to end prohibition.”

Cllr Holden, who is KCC’s deputy cabinet member for economic development, told KentOnline: “We need to switch from seeing it primarily as a health problem to primarily a crime problem after 50 years of failure in the war on drugs.”

The all-party select committee is expected to report its findings in October.

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