Top police chief says weed 'is as dangerous as heroin and crack cocaine'

dailystar.co.uk:

police commissioner has claimed that cannabis does the same damage as Class A drugs like crack cocaine and heroin.After Home secretary Suella Braverman stated her view that cannabis should be re-classified from a Class B drug to Class A, she has received support from some police commissioners, including the likes of David Sidwick, the Police Crime Commissioner for Dorset.Should cannabis be upgraded to a Class A drug, it will join the likes of cocaine, heroin and crystal meth, where possession of these substances carry a maximum term of seven years behind bars.READ MORE:Rapper uses 'cannabis cannon' to blast weed smoke into crowd during performanceSidwick said that cannabis was a 'gateway drug' to other substances and said its potential re-classification would help the cops hand out sterner punishments to those who are in possession of the drug.He said that a "liberal approach" existed towards the drug and called this "madness", while stating that policies in the country should be based upon "hard reality".The police chief was stern on his ideals of the decriminalisation of cannabis as he said the thought of it makes him "shudder", as he insisted that that weed "does the same harm as crack and heroin".Despite more countries making the move to decriminalise cannabis, Sidwick said the UK's efforts to follow this trend was based on the "misguided belief this drug is essentially harmless".To stay up to date with all the latest news, make sure you sign up to one of our newsletters here.Sidwick does not speak for all associated with the police force as former undercover cop Neil Woods said that it'll be "utterly catastrophic" should cannabis be made a Class A drug.He called the potential move "off the scale stupid" and said.