Cannabis Lobby Urges Gov't For Compromise

[Dragonfan]

CannaZine.co.uk

 

In the week its been announced Germany has joined forces with Belgium, Holland, Switzerland Spain and Portugal in implementing European medical cannabis programs, the British Cannabis Lobby has called for the UK government to follow suit, by removing patients who consume cannabis with their doctors knowledge, from the war on drugs.

 

Recently a South Wales man who suffers from an incurable auto-immune condition called Hidradenitis Suppurativa, which sees the sufferer experiencing debilitating boils and lesions around the groin and genitals as well as under the arms and on the face, wrote to the office of Lib-Dem leader Nick Clegg, to ask if he supported the forthcoming "Ten Minute Rule" bill which was tabled in the House by junior lib-dem MP Mr Tom Brake.

 

In the bill, Mr Brake was attempting to make the sale of cannabis seeds illegal in the UK, as a result of pressure in his own constituency of Wallingford, to shut-down a local shop called "Your High", which Mr Brake says, "Sells cannabis seeds and paraphernalia".

 

Mr Brake said in a Parliamentary speech, that he "supports totally, any Government attempt to plug a huge hole in the legislation on cannabis — that is - the lack of any restrictions on the sale of drugs paraphernalia and cannabis seeds", although in the same speech he also said "I should point out that I do not support the Government's bid to reclassify cannabis. They should have accepted the findings of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, which recognised that cannabis was dangerous but stated that it was not as dangerous as other drugs in category B".

 

Between a rock, and a hard place

In his e-mail to Nick Clegg, Norris Nuvo said, "My consultant has recommended (as far as he can legally) I use cannabis as a pain killer as the opium based pain killers [codiene and Tramadol] both cause liver damage with long term use and may eventually accelerate my death. I grow cannabis as I cannot buy it legally and have no wish to support criminals. At least I can legally buy my seeds presently."

 

Guilty of...what exactly?

It was a heartfelt admission of guilt under the current legal situation, and according to the British Cannabis Lobby, people in a similar position to Norris Nuvo already have enough on their plates, without worrying about their front door being kicked in by a tactical police squad acting on "public information" received as a result of the cannabis witch hunt which is under way currently, just because someone saw a strange light glowing behind a curtain.

 

"Across Europe", said Bill stone from the Cannabis Lobby, "more and more administrations are making allowances for those who consume cannabis to relieve the symptoms of a plethora of medical conditions, and they're making those allowances within the parameters for controlling ilicit drugs, as set by the United Nations and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, (UNODC) . So no longer can the "UN card" be used as an argument against medical cannabis".

 

"In Germany this week, (12/12/08), its been announced that a handful of patients now have approval to start receiving medical cannabis from a Belgian firm that produces it for the Dutch government's medical cannabis program."

 

Belgian medical wholesaler Arsus NV, whose subsidiary Fagron Netherlands supplies medical marijuana in Holland, announced in a recent press release that its Fagron Germany subsidiary has been granted an exclusive license to import and distribute medical marijuana in Germany, so clearly the curtain of prohibition is being opened slowly but surely.

 

"And with all of these law changes coming into being surely this puts the irrational British argument against cannabis firmly into perspective?", continued Stone. "Going back only a decade, cannabis was a dark and shady subject which was the domain of a couple of "niche" websites on the net. Today however, the information needed to make a balanced, objective decision as to whether a person experiments with cannabis or not, is wide-spread", said the Cannabis Lobby spokesman.

 

"People like Norris Nuvo, over 50 years of age, a qualified professional in the fields of mental health and education, are old-enough and wise-enough to decide for themselves (with the help of his doctor) if cannabis is for them or not, and subjecting them, and their immediate family's to tougher police sanctions is nothing less than inhumane, when across the English channel, in mainland Europe, those same sanctions and health concerns, simply do not exist". "By removing people like Norris Nuvo from the war on drugs, this free's up thousands of police man hours every year, which could be used to tackle real crime in our community", said Bill Stone.

 

Scenario

"What could be easier than for a man to pop quietly into his local police station, explain his situation to the local drug squad, provide any medical paperwork he may have to back up his claims for a "right to use cannabis", and from that point forth, any information the police receive could be dealt with discreetly, by one police officer who could phone up the cannabis grower and say something like "Someone saw your light. Can you deal with it please". And without the need for a bus-full of police officers wearing body-armour and crash helmets, costing tens of thousands of pounds per week to operate, to undertake a huge public propaganda campaign outside the house of a genuinely sick man."

 

"The nett result would be a massive saving in public money and resources". "We need to ask ourselves" concluded Bill Stone. "Is this what the 'Misuse of Drugs' act was devised for?"

 

If we can't ask the politicians then lets ask the public?

"I'm pretty sure if we put this to a public vote, the public would back Mr Norris Nuvo every time, so isn't it time our elected members did the same?" "We look forward to hearing how the government plan to deal with this situation at their earliest convenience".

 

The British Cannabis Lobby

http://forum.cannabislobby.org

[mistyville]

I'm 64 and I got busted this year in March. I was dobbed in. The cops came out and pulled my plants out. I went to court, with a letter from my doctor verifying that I use cannabis for medical reasons, but I still had the book thrown at me...plus a criminal conviction......Mistyville

[mistyville]

I live in Australia by the way...Mistyville

[LOGGER_KING]

I live in Australia by the way...Mistyville

How many plants did you have Mistyville?.did you get a fine or jail or both