A female police officers holds a small bag of suspected cannabis (Victoria Jones/PA)
(Picture: PA Wire)Lewisham is to join two other boroughs in a “drug diversion” pilot scheme aiming to see whether the decriminalisation of cannabis for young people can help to alleviate the cycle of crime that can begin when a young person gains a criminal record.
Mayor of Lewisham Damien Egan said the “only people that are winning” in the Government’s current War on Drugs are “organised criminal gangs” as he called for an “evidence-based” debate on the benefits of decriminalisation.
Lewisham is to be joined by the boroughs of Bexley and Greenwich in the scheme which was confirmed by London mayor Sadiq Khan last month.
Under the plans, anyone aged under 25 who is caught with cannabis would be referred for a programme of drug awareness sessions rather than being arrested for a criminal offence.
A poll on Wednesday showed the majority of Londoners back Sadiq Khan‘s pilot scheme.
As a Class B drug, the maximum prison sentence for possessing cannabis is currently five years. Some 1,800 people aged under 25 in Lewisham had criminal proceedings brought against them for drug possession between 2016 and 2020, with 90 per cent relating to cannabis possession.
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