Why use a drug torch for something it is not designed for?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/health/newsid_10000000/newsid_10000400/10000473.stm
How are the police going to get drug related crime targeted effectively in the UK? Should everyone carrying drugs be arrested or should drugs be legalised and the devastating affects of addiction addressed more intensely?
One of the latest ‘tools’ to crack drug problems is the ‘cocaine torch’, a device that some police forces take onto the streets and shine up the noses of night time revellers in the hope of identifying traces of cocaine. The main problem with this approach is that it doesn’t work:
“The company the torches are purchased from, JNE Marketing, only advertise the torches as suitable for testing crack cocaine residue and crack pipes.
It doesn’t mention anything about street cocaine which people snort. The company said the cocaine needs to be at least 87% pure to fluoresce under UV light.
The highest level of cocaine purity you can get on the street is around 45%. It’s not known why police from certain forces chose to use the torch on people’s faces.”
Aside from the ineffectiveness of the torch when used in the capacity of nightclubbers snorting cocaine, is there a bigger problem? I.e. is it the people out on the town who should be targeted or the dealers bringing in tonnes of cocaine onto our streets every year? Obviously there needs to be proper consideration of both problems, however surely it is time that we grasped the concept that drug use does not equal drug abuse, but it is drug abuse that is the real problem?
July 23rd, 2009 at 1:42 pm
Once again a typical ignorant approach to something that is not a great problem. They need to tackle the real problem, the dealers.
Keith
July 24th, 2009 at 4:30 am
Thanks for posting about this, I would love to read more about this topic.
July 24th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
Thank you! I would now go on this blog every day!