‘URGENT’ calls are being made by the police and crime commissioner to clamp down on drug use in Worcestershire.
Bill Longmore issued the appeal to police chiefs as he felt there were ‘too many people walking the county’s streets who were dangerous’.
His comments came during a West Mercia Police and Crime Panel meeting where Coun Sally Chambers said she felt drug use was ‘getting lost in the whole system’.
However, Mr Longmore, the elected member responsible for holding police bosses to account, said he would do all he could to solve the problem.
“This concerns me because there are too many people walking our streets who are dangerous,” he said.
“I really believe it and the police are facing all sorts of problems because there are so many of these people out there and we have got to address it.
“It is an urgent problem and I hope you get the view that we are trying to do everything possible.
“I am not going to say it is a losing battle, but it is a battle we have got to fight and it is a battle we have got to win.”
Mr Longmore said he was also concerned with the amount of cannabis and heroin coming out of Afghanistan, describing it as a ‘dangerous situation’.
Glyn Edwards, the PCC’s commissioning manager, said £265,000 had been invested into drug intervention programmes over the the last 12 months.
But he insisted more work could still be done, adding: “I think we need to establish further relationships with a range of funding partners whether that’s with NHS England, CCGs and learning authorities.
“I think ultimately we are hoping to get into a stage where we can effectively pull budgets because what we are trying to do is get very similar outcomes.
“We need to plan out three or five years worth of investment and see if we can actually achieve these shared outcomes holistically.”
Brian Sheldon, deputy police and crime commissioner for West Mercia, added: “I think education has got a huge role to play in relation to getting the right message across to our young people to stop them going down that particular pathway.”
