"Make cannabis a Class A drug" - the message from Dorset's police and crime commissioner couldn't be clearer and nor could David Sidwick's passion for tackling drug crime in Dorset.

Sidwick is part of a group of Conservative PCCs who have called on the Government to reclassify the drug from a Class B to a Class A drug - putting it in the same category as heroin, cocaine and ecstasy.

Next week, the Commissioner will unveil a "Fixing the Future" plan aimed at helping children stay away from drugs. Mr Sidwick said he was "excited" about the launch and hoped it would provide greater safeguarded and preventative action.

Speaking at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham, the group said it was time society realised that "it is not just a little bit of weed" and that the harm cannabis causes to communities is devastating.

Mr Sidwick said: "Because heroin and cocaine are Class A they are looked at in a very specific, and different way, by police in terms of treatment and prevention. There is a tighter focus and more resources focussed on Class A drugs and, actually, we (the Commissioners) started by asking the question 'should cannabis be a class A drug' before realising we should call for it to be reclassified.

"There's a huge body of evidence emerging from countries where it has been declassified or liberalised and has a huge capacity to cause harm."

"Everybody lauds Portugal for liberalising it - there's been a 30-fold increase in psychosis, in Scotland they've gone with a light-touch and there's been a 74% increase in admission for psychiatric conditions."

The Conservative PCC, who was elected in May 2021, said because cannabis affects DNA there is evidence suggesting an 'uptick in testicular cancer, breast cancer and common cancers in children'. He said cannabis posed a long-term risk to health and was "killing people slowly".

Mr Sidwick said: "If we want our kids to have birth defects and cancer then let's leave things as they are - it's only in the last couple of years that we've been able to know this because of a wealth of studies and our improved knowledge in genomes.

"That's before we talk about the harm in our communities from county lines and kids starting to use it - all that is happening here and now but where we are is we don't want to see what's happening in other parts of the world happening here."

The speech "went down well" with party delegates and has received "some interest" from the Government.

He added, talking about dealers, that "cannabis is not the benign drug those seeking to make a profit would have you believe."

"The campaign for me is making as much awareness of this issue as possible - the Class A is part of that campaign but the main thrust is making sure we take the new emerging data across the board", Mr Sidwick said.

"That means looking at treatment funding for young people - the most common drug they are receiving treatment for is cannabis - and I want to make sure we have enough funding for that.

"The 'from harm to hope' drugs strategy is a game changer - it focuses on three things. Strong enforcement, proactive prevention and firm safeguarding.

"We've taken over a million pounds of drugs off the street through Operation Scorpion and safeguarded 230 children. It doesn't work in isolation, though, you need that focus on treatment to help people get off drugs and we are being derelict in our duty to prevent the harm of drugs, particularly cannabis, in society and we need to do better at linking those three things together."