Victoria’s top cop issues smackdown to marijuana campaigners

The chief commissioner says Victoria Police’s support of Richmond’s proposed safe injecting rooms does not signal a weakened stance on drugs.

And, as if to prove it, Graham Ashton issued a stern smackdown to those campaigning for the legalisation of marijuana.

“I know we live in a society that loves its freedoms … but there is some things around which society should say ‘No’, that’s not appropriate, that’s not what society wants.

“(Cannabis) is one those things, Neil.”

Mr Ashton went on to say legalising cannabis would see the road toll rise, as well as an increase in assaults and family violence.

But he stood by the police force’s support of allowing ice inside Richmond’s new safe injecting rooms.

“If you don’t allow them to use ice, you end up with a bigger problem.”

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