It’s My Party ….

Source: The Guardian
Date: May 2 2006
Author: Carl Wagner

Carl Wagner, 47
He is contesting the Avenues ward in Hull for the Legalise Cannabis Alliance.

The main reason for me standing is to oppose the increasing appetite for jailing people for using cannabis. There is no rationale for it. To pretend that most people who use cannabis don't benefit and are harmed by it is just nonsense.

I have six children and I find it impossible to explain the reasoning behind Britain's drug policies. Only the other day, a supermarket in Hull was fined £80 for selling alcohol to children, but an old woman was fined £400 for growing cannabis plants for medicinal purposes.

To argue that cannabis laws are in place to safeguard children is disingenuous. A recent survey for the local paper in Hull showed that 40% of 14- and 15-year-olds smoke cannabis. But when asked how much they were paying for an ounce, respondents said £40 or less. The price for good herbal cannabis should be £120 an ounce. That means that kids on the streets are being given soap bar, a dangerous, cheap and nasty resin often polluted with coffee, glue or plastics. So society is letting kids smoke that stuff while it turns a blind eye to it. Until this injustice is resolved and I can explain cannabis policy properly to my children, I'll keep on campaigning. When you stand for a single issue, you have a much better chance of getting your message across.

Voters today believe that politicians are inherently corrupt. That is why, increasingly, they are putting people like us first. They feel they can trust us. Something is happening to our electoral system. Dare I call it a revolution?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1765397,00.html
back to list