Hull Top 10 Drugs Hell?! Rich Mills

In an Observer article of Sunday 12th May 2002, Hull was described as "Britain's new drug capital". Another 'TOP 10' status for us not to be proud of! It sometimes feels like we should just give-up and walk away from this city that seems day-by-day to be going further down the toilet. So why do we bother, why do people like myself battle day-after-day to reverse this trend? Why do we go out on the streets putting our lives at risk for the sake of the apathetic masses that sit at home watching the TV, moaning about the state of the world outside?

Why do we fight against what sometimes seems like an insurmountable problem? Why? Well for me it's about the fact that I do love this city, despite its flaws. I'm 'ull born and bred, and hate to see what is happening to what is actually a great city to live in. Unfortunately its reputation precedes it, and the image of Hull is not something the corporate-spin-doctors within the city council can do anything about. The only people who can change the image of Hull are its people themselves.

But why Hull? What is it about this city that makes it such an apparent hot-spot for drugs and crime in this country? Well firstly we are a port, and a direct link to the Netherlands. International gangs have targeted Hull as being a soft target, as they see it, for the import and distribution of drugs into the country.

"Customs officers believe the North of England is increasingly being used because traditional routes for bringing drugs into Britain, such as Dover or Folkestone, are too well policed. Seizures may have increased dramatically at Hull, but only a small proportion of drugs being smuggled in is ever discovered. 'We know the people we catch in Hull are only tiny links in the international chain,' said a Customs spokesman, Rob Hastings-Trew. " The Observer, Sun May 12 2002, Tony Thompson, crime correspondent.

So as a port Hull is an obvious route into the country for the drugs traffickers, and many of the drugs that pass through Hull stop in the city, and taint the city with a sickness that is hard to combat. Many organised criminals are targeting Hull, as a place that is ripe for the taking as they see it. As in the Observer article of last year one chilling part of it read as follows..

"Retired armed robber and notorious hard man Jimmy Tippett Jnr, whose father worked alongside the Kray twins in the Sixties, recently made his home in Hull and says he knows of other Londoners who are planning to make the move. 'This place is wide open,' he said. 'The fact that the amount of drugs and levels of crime are on the increase doesn't surprise me at all. It's not like London, it's not as well developed and it's all-ripe for the taking. You don't have the problem of working on someone else's manor.' " The Observer, Sun May 12 2002, Tony Thompson, crime correspondent. continued below

Hull Top 10 Drugs Hell?! continued Rich Mills

However I do not wish to paint a picture of total doom and gloom. As the time has come when the people of Hull have had enough. Communities are starting to come together to fight the influx of drugs into their neighbourhoods. People are sick-to-death of seeing 'needles' scattered around children's playgrounds, having known dealers living down the street, the damage that is being caused by this sickness to our once proud northern city that survived massive bombing during World War 2.

After all if we can survive the onslaught of the German bombers that almost levelled this city, a few scumbag drug dealers should be no problem! Communities of local people and local agencies established to tackle this problem are coming together to rid the city of the cancer that blights us all. A time has come were the people of this city have finally had enough, and are willing to stand-up to these maggots who come to infect our city with their form of evil.

Enough is enough, and it's time the people themselves stopped moaning about the state of our city streets and did something about it. If you want a better world, you've got to go out there and change it yourself. Or at the very least give your full backing and support to those who do risk themselves for the betterment of others. Our police force work tirelessly to combat this problem, along with community workers throughout the city, people who believe in a better future for Hull.

We don't ask you (the people of Hull) to walk to streets of Hull with us, we are the ones willing to put ourselves out there and take the risks to make the city a safer place to live for you. All we ask though is for your support and backing, and to realise that there are people out there doing their very best to reverse the down spiral of drugs, depression and deprivation that it seems sometimes Hull as a city is trapped in. Links: Observer Guardian.co.uk News Story

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