The home secretary said middle-class people buying drugs are ‘a part of the problem’
Home secretary Sajid Javid said “middle class drug users” are to blame for the record levels of knife crime in London.
Fatal stabbings are at their highest number since the end of WW2, Javid said the illegal drug market’s profit is one of the biggest causes of gang violence.
Today, in a speech on crime barely capable of hiding his leadership ambitions, the Saj said: “The review will also bring home to middle class drug users that they are part of the problem.
“They may never set foot in a deprived area.
“They may never see an act of serious violence, but their illicit habits are adding fuel to the fire that is engulfing our communities.”
The secretary of state also restated the decision to adopt a public health approach in dealing with violent crime, as he wrote for JOE last week, arguing the “mindset of government needs to shift.”
"We should take a public health approach to drugs, to petty crime"@Dr_PhilippaW on Glasgow's innovative approach to violent crime that Sadiq Khan needs to see #SNP18 pic.twitter.com/42UbBiPa2c
— PoliticsJOE (@PoliticsJOE_UK) October 9, 2018
Javid said: “Gangs recruit the most vulnerable young people. These children are at risk and we can detect early on who they are.
“The kid that plays truant. The ones that get into fights. The pupils that struggle at school. Even though we can see the path to criminality, we still expect these children to make the right choices on their own.”
Home Secretary @sajidjavid: “Before a young person even picks up a knife, they have been the victim of a string of lost opportunities and missed chances.”
Read more: https://t.co/HV8LvEtqUM#KnifeFree #KnifeCrime pic.twitter.com/jDjFAbXra8
— Home Office (@ukhomeoffice) April 15, 2019
The home secretary is not the first senior politician to apportion blame to London’s illegal drugs market, mayor Sadiq Khan has also argued “middle class cocaine use” plays a significant role in causing violence in the capital.
