Sadiq Khan: 'Cocaine Addicts Are To Blame For London's Knife Crime, Not Me'

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London Mayor Sadiq Kahn has diverted the blame for the capital's knife crime epidemic on " cocaine users," claiming 'middle-class addicts' are helping fuel gang-related violence in the city.

Khan said recreational drug use was not a “victimless crime” claiming there is a clear link between cocaine consumption and London's "out of control" knife crime epidemic.

Khan called for action against "the middle class" who consume the drugs at “middle-class parties” in the city.

Khan's defection comes after Donald Trump blasted him, saying he's to blame for "terror attacks" in London in recent years.

The president said Khan has “done a very bad job on terrorism” by “allowing millions and millions” of migrants into the British capital.

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According to The Guardian: The mayor, answering questions on his LBC radio phone-in show, said: “There is a definite link, which has been shown to me by the police, of drugs and criminal gangs and knife crime and crime going up.”

He continued:

“We have got to make sure we take action among those young people who are involved in criminal gangs as well as those who are buying them at middle-class parties.

“There are some Londoners who think it is a victimless crime, taking cocaine at ‘middle-class parties’. We need to make sure Londoners realise there is no such thing as a victimless crime.”

He added: “Some of the young people being knifed on our streets in London, some of the young people losing their lives is because they are involved in criminal gangs who are lower down the food chain in relation to drugs.”

The mayor’s comments came after the justice secretary, David Gauke, said in May that middle-class people who take cocaine “should feel a degree of guilt and responsibility” when they see stories of teenagers being murdered in Hackney, east London.

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Khan, who campaigned for a remain vote in the EU referendum, said Brexit could make tackling the illegal drug trade trade more difficult.

“The drugs come from overseas and the idea that we will be more effective at fighting crime by leaving the EU – by not having the security arrangements with the EU – is ridiculous,” he said.

In May, Simon Kempton, who leads on drug policy for the Police Federation, also said middle-class drug users were to blame for the drug trade and related violence.

Speaking at the federation’s conference in Birmingham, he said:

“‘The only reason gangs are into drugs is because people want to buy them, and a big part of that is not street-level users. Street-level users are a problem because they steal to fund their habit but on their own they will not support an organised crime group.

“The big market is people with money to spend and they are often oblivious to the misery they cause because it is not on their doorstep. Middle-class drug users do not come across the radar of police because they are consuming it behind closed doors.”

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