𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Police officers must arrest everyone smoking cannabis to end the “menacing” drugs crisis engulfing town centres, parks and other public spaces, Chris Philp has declared. Speaking to the Daily Express at the Conservative Party Conference, the Shadow Home Secretary said people “going about their lawful business” feel intimidated by yobs smoking narcotics around them.

And Mr Philp told police chiefs he “can’t have” officers deciding that “certain crimes can be overlooked”. An estimated 2.3million people used cannabis last year, and Mr Philp warned them that under a future Conservative government, they would get a criminal record.

He said: “It’s illegal, it’s a criminal offence, it’s against the law, and I expect the police to always police the law regardless of the offence.

“So if a police officer can smell cannabis in the air on a high street or somewhere, I expect them to take action: find out who’s smoking it, find out who’s possessing it, and arrest them, and prosecute them.

“It’s as simple as that. It’s a criminal offence, Parliament has legislated, and that needs to be properly policed. I can’t have the police deciding that certain crimes can be overlooked, that is not acceptable.”

Asked if that would mean “hundreds of thousands of people” getting criminal records, Mr Philp declared: “Well, they shouldn’t be committing a criminal offence. And there will be a deterrent effect.

“Look, people going about their lawful business on high streets, in parks and recreation grounds, don’t want the smell of cannabis to be hanging in the air. It feels menacing, it feels intimidating.

“That should not be happening. And if the police started policing this criminal offence, the deterrent effect would rapidly mean people doing that would stop.”

Mr Philp said he wants officers to have a “zero tolerance” approach to crime. This, he says, must include a “laser-like” focus on catching criminals.

Guidance handed to officers by the College of Policing suggests officers should follow a three-stage approach to cannabis smokers. For a first offence, they should receive a cannabis warning, then a penalty notice if they are caught for a second time The guidance states that louts should be arrested for their third offence.

Home Office figures show that about one in five drug offences resulted in a suspect being charged. For cannabis specifically, it is as low as 18%. About half of all cannabis offences were resolved with community resolutions.

The Home Office admitted police forces have “differing local policies on using out-of-court disposals for cannabis possessions”. But Mr Philp signalled that if he became home secretary, he would order a new war on drugs.

He said: “It’s a gateway drug to more serious Class A drugs. It causes antisocial behaviour, and it also critically, particularly the cannabis people smoke today, it’s not the same as the cannabis of 20 or 30 years ago.

“Today’s cannabis has very high levels of THC, which is demonstrated to cause psychosis and even schizophrenia. So, it has extremely serious health impacts, psychological and mental health impacts on the people smoking it, which itself then leads to further criminal offending.

“There are lots of reasons why it should be policed properly, there is a reason why it is illegal, and that’s why the police should police it completely.”

A record 176,930kg of the Class B drug was seized in the year to March 2026, up from 129 tonnes in the previous year. Herbal cannabis accounted for 85% of the entire weight of all the drugs seized in the first three months of the year.

The National Crime Agency has repeatedly warned of crime gangs hoodwinking holidaymakers into carrying vast amounts of cannabis from the US, Canada and Thailand into the UK. The drug is legal in parts of these countries, but those caught importing cannabis into the UK could be jailed for up to 14 years.

Analysis of Home Office records shows Border Force made 13,642 seizures in the first three months of the year – a similar number to previous years. This indicates that drug traffickers are sending bigger shipments of narcotics.

Border Force seized a record 12-tonne shipment – the equivalent to three male hippos – of cannabis worth £139million in May.

Customs chiefs also seized a staggering 28,482kg of cocaine between April 2025 and March 2026.

Mr Philp added: “Drug use and what you might call low-level disorder, criminal damage and so on, is rampant. And people do feel scared on their own high streets, and that is wrong.

“Some criminals appear unconcerned about the police, and that’s wrong as well. But the way you fix that is partly by hiring more police, partly by hotspot patrolling the high-crime areas, but critically, it’s by requiring the police to always take action where there is criminality.

“Criminal offences should not be ignored under any circumstances. That’s really the crux of my message. If that happened, then suddenly the criminals would be the ones scared, not the general public, and the deterrent effect would mean these offences, antisocial behaviour, public drug use, criminal damage, they would diminish significantly and rapidly if the perpetrators knew there would be consequences. Crime must have consequences.”