David Blunkett, on the Today programme this morning (no, I don't get all my information from the Today programme, just most of it) stated that, in Lambeth, where the Metropolitan Police has adopted a more-sensible-than-usual policy on marijuana-related offences, the number of crack cocaine dealers arrested by police has risen by 10%. Since, he says, 75% of crack cocaine addicts support their habits by theft, this is bound to have an impact on street crime, by which he presumably means that there will be fewer muggings.
Forgive me for seeming sceptical, but surely decreasing the number of crack dealers will make crack more expensive, so that addicts will need to steal more, rather than less, to obtain their drugs? This seems a pretty basic point, and I'd like to see somebody in authority address it....