Dinner party guests should call police if they spot fellow revellers smoking cannabis at Christmas gatherings, the policing minister has said.
Kit Malthouse said that anyone who witnessed the law being broken at festive season get-togethers should report it, even if it was just a guest lighting a joint.
HIs comments came as the Government formally unveiled its 10 year drug strategy that aims to drive addicts into treatment services and stem the demand by cracking down on middle-class drug users.
A senior minister today urged dinner party guests to call the cops on fellow revellers if they spot them smoking cannabis at Christmas gatherings.
Mr Malthouse told LBC he had never been to a dinner party where drugs had been taken, but would have reported it if he had.
Asked what people should do if they saw someone getting out a cannabis joint, he replied: “Well, my advice to anybody who witnesses the law being broken is to report it to the police.”
Boris Johnson had earlier warned middle class drug users he would not sit “idly by” and let them fund crime as he unveiled a £300 million, three year drive to “wipe out” county lines gangs.
Drug dogs
The Prime Minister warned recreational users face being stripped of their passports and driving licences under the new curbs, as he joined police on a dawn raid.
Mr Malthouse also said drug dogs should be deployed in wealthy areas to catch middle class cocaine users whose habits fuel violent crime.
Kit Malthouse said he wanted police to broaden the geographical spread of their action against drug users so that “rich stockbrokers” are targeted in the same way as “a kid in Brixton or Hackney” for taking illicit substances.
He added that he also wanted police to start identifying the customers of drug dealers by investigating the numbers on seized phones. This would mean that action, ranging from educational courses to potential prosecution, could be taken against them.
Ministers believe half of all shop thefts, burglaries and robberies in the UK are committed by 300,000 heroin and cocaine addicts, who will receive rehabilitation and medical treatment under the strategy.
