'Brixton's gone to pot'

[bongme]

hi

Thursday, 16 May, 2002

How is Lambeth, in south London, faring since police took a "softly softly" approach to cannabis possession? Not well, says resident Chris Claudius, a 32-year-old music producer, who has rallied locals against rising crime.

I've lived in Brixton for five years and it's really changed in the past 10 months.

My road used to be a crack area and then got cleaned up. I could walk around even at 3am with never any trouble.

But in the past year I've been mugged, my friends have been mugged and two of the shops I go to have been held up.

The guy who runs my local off-licence got done over by eight guys with guns; and the owner of the organic foods shop has spent about £1,000 on extra security since he was robbed.

I would tie this in with the relaxation of the law on possession. The papers go on about crime falling but that's just ridiculous.

Some days there's up to three dealers on each street corner; while some are quite sweet, others can be heavy handed. One guy threatened to cut me up if I didn't buy off him.

Drugs tourists

People have always smoked cannabis in Brixton - everyone knows that, people have walked down the street smoking spliffs for years.

Cannabis campaigners celebrated the move

But now the word has spread around that it's legal in Lambeth - even though it's not - we get people new to London coming here looking to score.

If I walk down Landor Rd or Coldharbour Lane, every 200 yards I'll be asked if I want dope, if I want skunk. I say: 'Sorry, I've gone off that stuff,' but still they hassle me.

I'm fed up with being approached and hassled all the time. That's why I organised a petition of local residents, calling for CCTV and more police on the beat.

I e-mailed it to my local MP, and all of sudden we were organising an emergency meeting to discuss the rising crime in the area.

People from all walks of life were there, representing the mix of people who live in Brixton: housewives, people with really good jobs, artists, music types, local shop owners, a couple of people from the housing estate.

We've since handed the petition in, having collected more than 600 signatures, but not much has changed yet.

'Leave law alone'

I was happy when Brian Paddick went [the police commander who introduced the "softly softly" scheme and was later moved from his post while allegations about his private life were investigated].

He meant well but the police should have just kept shut about their plans to stop arresting people with small amounts of cannabis. They wanted to cut the amount of time filling in forms - so just do it, don't tell the whole world so that people start thinking it's legal.

I think they should have either legalised cannabis or left the law alone.

I used to really like the vibe in Brixton but now I can't wait to get out. My wife and I could put our flat on the market, but with house prices shooting up we could only afford to buy a house in another dodgy area.

Bongme