Editorial
Comment on Worthing’s Cannabis Cafes
Source: The
Argus, UK
Section: Editorial comment
Pub Date: Monday
12 January 2004
Contact:
letters@the argus.co.uk
Ref: http://www.ccguide.org.uk/cannabis
cafes.html
CAMPAIGNERS say
smoking cannabis is a harmless activity which has less of an impact on society
than alcohol.
Opponents say
the drug can lead to mental health problems, such as schizophrenia, and
inevitably leads the user to harder narcotics.
It is true his
management of the Quantum Leaf café quite simply broke the law. The class B drug was readily available at
the Worthing store, he was caught with large amounts of cannabis and police had
gathered a wealth of evidence to prove it.
But even the
trial judge said he was reluctant to jail him. Judge John Sessions said
releasing Baldwin would make a mockery of the law and so he had no alternative.
When the Home
Office reclassifies cannabis later this month, there will be lower penalties
for cannabis users and authorities expect many more Dutch-style cafes to open
as a result.
This means the
courts and police will have to spend many more hours and direct many more
resources at closing them down and prosecuting those behind them.
With prisons already overcrowded, the
Government may again have to consider if such a punishment is really helping to
protect society from what most people would now consider to be a very minor
offence.