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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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OAP cannabis crime creates only one victim - the pharmaceutical industry
Ian Mallay CannaZine
Wednesday 20 Feb 2008 An old age pensioner who grew his own cannabis at his South London home has been fined £70 and given a conditional discharge by magistrates. Frederick Robert Turner, a horticulture specialist, used his skills to grow the plants in relief of a painful and debilitating arthiritic condition. Turner, who suffers from high blood pressure as well as chronic rheumatoid athritis, claims using the drug helps him to deal with the pain of his inflamed joints, which are under constant attack from his body's immune system, (see Rheumatoid Athritis for more information). He lives solely off his £100 per week pension and is therefore unable to afford the "luxury" of buying cannabis from an illegal drug dealer, so he took it upon himself to grow his own. A situation which is legal in other parts of the European Union, with a doctors note confirming the condition. At a time when cannabis and its beneficial qualities are in the public eye surely this case begs the question of the validity of creating a criminal out of an otherwise law-abiding UK citizen? A 67 year old-aged pensioner no less, and I would be interested in hearing the comments of ACPO cannabis leader Simon Byrne, anti-cannabis campaigner Debra Bell or Home Secretary Jacqui Smith in this instance? Whilst pressure groups and anti-cannabis government lobby's take up the lions share of the press, supposedly to protect the Great British youth from damaging itself with cannabis, who is looking after the best interests of people like Frederick Turner? Legalise Cannabis Alliance Alun Buffry from the Legalise Cannabis Alliance commented; "The punishment of a victimless cannabis user is normally a bad enough flaw in the British Justice System, but in this case Mr Turner is faced with a choice of continuing to break the law in order to ease his pain and suffering from a dreadful condition - rheumatoid arthritis - or to spend the rest of his life in agony. Clearly expensive pharmaceutical drugs with unpleasant side-effects are not helping him - the cannabis plant apparently does. What makes this even sadder is that it is WE, the taxpayer, who pay for these court cases and it is about time that stopped." In a court case which has doubtless cost the public purse 10's of thousands of pounds to bring about, is a £70 fine a worthwhile outcome for the expense? What were the Crown Prosecution Service thinking even bringing this case to court? Isn't it about time we fell into line with the rest of the EU, by allowing people with a bona-fide medical reason to use cannabis, and to do so without fear of molestation by the police? Its hard to comprehend what good fining Frederick Turner 2 thirds of his weekly income has actually achieved, except maybe making an example of him by causing purposeful hard-ship in the name of law-enforcement. It would appear the £70 is not a fine as such, but more a covert tax levy, in a case which only has one victim, and that victim is ultimately the pharmaceutical industry. http://pr.cannazine.co.uk/content/view/168/1/
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