Source: The
Argus, Worthing, UK
Pub Date:
Tuesday, 20 January 2004
Subj: Royal
pardon sought for cannabis cafe owner
URL:
http://www.thisisworthing.co.uk/worthing/archive/2004/01/20/NEWS85ZM.html
Contact: letters@theargus.co.uk
Ref: http://www.ccguide.org/chrisbaldwin.php
http://www.ccguide.org/cannabis
cafes.html
Royal pardon
sought for cannabis cafe owner
A cannabis campaigner
cleared of supplying the drug in a landmark ruling is to seek a royal pardon
for a jailed Worthing cafe owner.
Jeffrey
Ditchfield, 43, from Rhyl, was found not guilty of the possession of cannabis
with intent to supply after he told a jury at Chester Crown Court he had only
supplied it to the sick.
The shop owner
used the defence of "necessity", arguing that the supply of the drug
to sick people was not a misuse under the Misuse of Drugs Act.
He immediately
contacted The Argus to say he would campaign to have Chris Baldwin pardoned -
and would even offer to do his sentence for him.
Disabled
Baldwin, 53, of Carnegie Close, Worthing, is serving a six-month sentence for
various cannabis offences at High Down prison in Sutton, Surrey.
The Friends of
Worthing Koffee Shops is to protest against Baldwin's sentence at the Houses of
Parliament tomorrow.
Baldwin suffers
from spastic paraplegia, uses crutches and says using cannabis helped to combat
debilitating leg spasms.
He was jailed on
January 9 for allowing cannabis to be used at a property, cannabis possession
with intent to supply and possession of cannabis.
He had leased a
property in Rowlands Road, Worthing, and opened a Dutch-style coffee shop in
2002.
The cafe, which
sold 13 types of marijuana, hash cakes and ready-rolled joints, was first
raided by police just a few weeks after it opened.
He then opened another coffee shop in
Brougham Road, East Worthing. On January 29, cannabis will become a class C
drug, meaning its possession will no longer be an arrestable offence.