LUKE MARSDEN: time to take a zero tolerance attitude to drugs

​No, the cost-of-living crisis isn’t so bad at Marsden Manor that I need to skip showers. The smell that has seemingly taken over Wigan has a herbal note to it.

Whether the town centre, the Whelley Loop Line or down at Wigan Pier, the aroma reminds me of a trip to Amsterdam I took a few years ago. I fear Wigan has a drug problem.

Having spoken to quite a few equally concerned Wiganers, they have also noticed a rise in the smell of cannabis in many areas including children’s playgrounds and popular walking spots including Pennington Flash.

We have more than enough problems without regressing to a few years when serious drug misuse infected Wigan.

Unlike a number of US states, marijuana use in the UK is not obviously legal, but I have thought for a while now that it is becoming more commonplace for people to use it in public as though they are lighting up a fag.

Perhaps the events of the last few years have emboldened folk to "live and let live” and many argue cannabis does indeed have medicinal qualities. But I highly doubt the people using it in Wigan are suffering from long-term arthritis.

The sad truth will be that those abusing it will largely be addicts, directionless teens and depressed adults going through a midlife crisis.

I would like to think vigilant readers of this column would report to the police any instances they see of cannabis abuse on our streets, but I can understand why people would be reluctant because are the police actually going to do anything?

They won’t turn up to your house if it is burgled, so why waste resources on someone smoking a spliff?

We need to take a zero-tolerance approach to this, otherwise Wigan may well start to resemble The Dam in all the wrong ways.