“Stokie version of "TOOTING LIBARATION ARMY"”

“Cllr Gavin Webb. I have just viewed your "Libertarian Party" website. Tres amusant. Your party has a mere 1661 members!!!!!!!!!! What massive support you lot have.”

“Johntoe, go with your theory, we open up little corner shops for them to buy their drugs,
where does someone high on drugs most of the time and not work get money,
their need is so great at times to get a fix they will steal from families, friends any one and any way, to get money for a £6 deal of heroin or the like, what would you replace that with, tokens?
you and webb have no clue about drugs and all its problems, other than to geeky google, then suddenly your experts. 2 ways to stop this . .1/ more warrants, longer sentences for dealers. 2/ more medical treatment strictly controlled for users.
The users want and plead for help to get off drugs, they themselves will say that its Dealers that knock them off track in treatment. . . . Fact”

“Johntoe, I can think of numerous alcoholics who shoplift to "fund their habit". So sadly, your argument is fruitless.
I would ask yourself, who is likely to have more knowledge of the subject? A retired bobie with over 30 years front line experience, or someone like Cllr Gavin Webb?”

“Geoff, I am slightly shocked that you as an ex police officer can not see that the present situation is futile and a waste of tax payers money,
the so called "war on drugs" has been going since when? the mid 60s?
and it has achieved what exactly? yes you shut down a few dealers and it disrupts the supply, temporarily, but there are always people eager to take the place of those who are "banged up" and on it goes,
We NEED a re think, why would users contine to steal and commit other crimes to fund their drug use if they could walk into a properly licenced and regulated outlet and legally purchase their "drug of choice"?
how many alcohol addicts, sorry alcoholics steal to buy booze? I am not saying none never, but the point is there,
one thing is certain despite the propaganda of "Operation nemesis" and the like the present policy on drugs is NOT working and will NEVER work,
SO, do we at least have a re think, or does the dog continue to chase its own tail?”

“Mr Webb, your views are everything thats going wrong in this country, and why we are in such a mess.
your namby pamby ways of lets change this and lets change that has erroded law and order to the state we are in now.
I am sure that the people of stoke would love to see the police take action on every occasion and deal with criminals properly, put behind bars.
In hitting these drug houses it disrupts the chain of supply, if the users cant get it, they dont commit the crimes like burglary or robbery to fund it. In your world their will be a constant circle of dealing and crime.
If i am not wrong you were suspended for these views by the Lib Dem.
Are you just another screaming lord such with modern day views.
Remember, Your a councillor elected to represent the views of your ward, not just yours”

“Cllr Webb, if you are not comparing the UK with Zimbabwe, then why mention it?
Really quite disturbing.”

“Some of the comments in defence of the established order are quite worrying. To read people state that just because someone has a different and somewhat anti-establishment viewpoint that they are a nutjob, or inflammitory, etc, etc, smacks of a group of people who don't really think about what goes on around them and merely accept the status quo as the 'norm'.

Not only is it worrying, but it is extremely dangerous too. To hold the belief that because someone is elected to political office that they must be part of the establishment is ridiculous. How about asking the current Zimbabwean Prime Minister and Movement for Democratic Change politician Morgan Tsvangirai what his views are on this? I'm sure he wouldn't agree with you when so many fellow Zimbabweans are being persecuted, or let to starve, by the tyrant Robert Mugabe.

Of course, I'm not arguing that the situation in the UK is anything like Zimbabwe, however, there is much wrong in this country and to continue with the same old, tired style of politics just won't provide us with any remedy. In fact, things are getting worse and I believe that is largely because Government - with its agents - is interfering too much in our everyday lives.

Its interference is not only eroding our individual rights, but it is also creating a culture in which personal responsibility is weakened.

Anyway, on the drugs war perhaps Google the Transform Drugs Policy Foundation to read their views on how the drugs war isn't working.”

“Who in the right mind elected Cllr Gavin Webb? We would all like to live in a world where we can skip through the daisys holding hands, but that is not the real world. It is unachievable nonsense.
He gives an indepth insight into modern policing because he spent a night working with them years ago!
He has no idea whatsoever about law enforcement, attitudes to policing, criminal behaviour or crime trends.
As another person comments, the fact that an elected representative display such anti establishment views is little more than a disgrace. Does the detritus he speaks represent that of his constituants? I very much doubt it.
To conclude, Cllr Webb. Constables swear an oath to serve the Queen. Not the public.”

“I've worked in local law enforcement for 15 years, and have often heard the suggestion of decriminalising drugs as a solution. Unfortunately although i agree the arguments for this can be compelling, to suggest it would in anyway reduce crime is naive to say the least.

The people involved in the transportation and sale of these goods are nearly without exception lifestyle criminals, prepared to use extreme violence in the perpetuation and defence of their trade, and have no respect for their fellow human beings.

So, if drugs should be decriminalised, what are these individuals going to do? start wearing a suit and paying taxes? open a florist? i doubt it. If they cannot obtain the easy money from drug sales, they will find some other way of making an easy buck off other peoples suffering.

Its well established that most acquisitive crime (theft fraud etc) is drug related, in that an individual needs to support an expensive habit. Should pharmacies start selling their "fix" will it become any cheaper for them do you think? i dont doubt the government would place high taxes on it the same as alcohol or tobacco. will they suddenly stop burgling oap's bungalows? I doubt it somehow. Softening our approach to drugs would at best only transfer the problem elsewhere, to perhaps something even worse like human trafficking, or child pornography.

Now i have met many addicts over the years, and you know, many of the ones commiting these crimes aren't essentially bad people at heart, but the need to replenish their supply is bigger and stronger than their ability to stop it. I haven't met too many who are happy to have fallen into the trap of drug use.

Now so long as there is a "need" for something,, there will be somebody somewhere, who will supply. Thats a fact of life, and applies to everything.

The ONLY way, to reduce the amount of drug related crime, is the current 3 pronged approach.

1. Disruption of the supply chain.

2. Education of youth, so they dont turn to drugs in the first place.

3. help and support for addicts who want to get off the stuff.

It's probably not a battle we could ever win, but i do believe it reduces the problem. I shudder to think of the chaos that would ensue if we let that genie out of the bottle as Mr Webb suggests.

In any free society, there will always be an element who want to do things the rest of us rather they wouldn't, its one of the costs of freedom. That fact needs to accepted by everyone.

It's shocking to me that an elected councillor should be putting forward such antiestablishment views as he does, and to be honest i'd just ignored him as a bit of a nutjob. Don't think one friday night with a couple of bobbies gives you any real perception of what real policing involves. Over the years i have met hundreds if not thousands of officers, mostly good people, some indifferent, one or 2 bad eggs, and just as human as the rest of us. Their approach must seem "harsh" sometimes or even militaristic, but its all done with logical thought towards the safety of the officers and the public they protect. Unfortunately one of the first things you learn upon joining the police was that there were people out there who would happily see them dead or injured purely because of what they do for a living. Despite that they still go out every day, tryin to catch the bad guys, and i salute them.”