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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Pastor says police soft on cannabis
Hackney Gazette
Friday 13 Oct 2006 A PASTOR is taking on the some of the most senior police officers in Britain in a bid to get stricter penalties imposed on those found in possession of cannabis. The Rev George Hargreaves, from the Hephzibah Christian Centre in Beechwood Road, Dalston, says that a soft approach on cannabis has led to "general lawlessness" and has asked for a judicial review to be carried out at the Royal Courts of Justice into the behaviour of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO). Mr Hargreaves, who has received £30,000 from a secret sponsor to take the case to court, is arguing that ACPO has broken the law by issuing guidelines to police officers stating that arrests for possession of cannabis should be replaced with warnings or cautions. "I believe this relaxation of laws on cannabis has a major impact in the rise in gun crime and general lawlessness," said Mr Hargreaves. ACPO issued the new guidelines to police officers following the reclassification of cannabis from a class B to a class C drug by the Home Office in January, 2004. The guidelines say there should be a presumption against arrest for possession of the drug, which means the majority of people now found with cannabis will get a warning and have the drug confiscated. Mr Hargreaves says ACPO has misinterpreted what was intended by the reclassification. "The police can't decide not to police," said Mr Hargreaves. http://www.hackneygazette.co.uk/
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