The Scotland Yard assistant commissioner Tarique Ghaffur, who heads specialist crime, admitted others would step up to take their places. "We've taken these people out, who will fill the gap?" he said.
Well, duh.
I find cocaine pretty much repellent. I tried it a few times when I was a young woman, it made me feel bitchy and brittle, and I didn't like it. People using cocaine are boring and superficial IMHO. Crack is much worse - foul stuff, and I have literally seen people destroyed by it. I knew a woman who hung out with users, and she ran away, turned up on the doorstep of a friend in a very bad state with a baby in a very bad state. Awful.
I'd say the only solution is a dour government regulated supply for crack, in a program to get people off it, or at worse stabilise them. It's a tragedy which we can only contain and palliate. The real solution is a society which gives people hope and a meaningful life, but I don't see one of those emerging any time soon.
For the powder stuff, I think probably licensed and heavily taxed commercial sales. I don't think this will happen, but it's probably the best solution.
