A primary school has been forced to tell parents to stop smoking cannabis at its gates, triggering criticism of the local police force’s ‘soft’ approach to the drug. Headteacher Pauline Northcott sent out a strongly worded newsletter after reports that the illegal drug was being shared and smoked ‘at the bottom of the school yard’, or playground, at the school in County Durham, where pupils are aged between two and 11.
Under the heading ‘Inappropriate behaviour on or around the school premises’, Mrs Northcott, head of Dean Bank Primary and Nursery School in Ferryhill, told parents the issue had been reported to the police. She also blasted parents for swearing in the playground, saying some had been using ‘inappropriate language’ which was ‘totally unacceptable’.
Parents at the 190-pupil school expressed their fury at the use of cannabis near their children and critics blamed the ‘soft touch’ policy introduced by Durham Chief Constable Mike Barton in 2015, under which people who use small amounts of the drug escape prosecution.
One father, who did not want to be named, said: ‘You would have thought anything around kids or schools, the police would be right on it. But they’re not bothered. A 28-year-old mother with two sons at the school, which is set among terraced houses in the former mining town near Durham, said she had smelled cannabis close to where the children played and thought it was ‘disgusting’.
Local independent councillor Brian Avery, a former magistrate, said: ‘It’s going on all over the place and a lot of the time right under your nose.
'I really don’t agree with the soft approach to policing it.’
David Raynes, of the National Drug Prevention Alliance, said the attitude of the Durham police had ‘completely normalised the habit’ adding: ‘The more people think it is acceptable, the more likely it is that parents will think it is fine to smoke cannabis at the school gates around children.’
He added: ‘It is no business of the Chief Constable to undermine national legislation. But Mr Barton told The Mail on Sunday: ‘If I had been stood next to someone who was smoking cannabis at the school gate, they would have been nicked – pure and simple – and any of my officers would have done the same. <!-- Global site tag (gtag.js) - Google Analytics -->
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