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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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Transcript of speech
Mark Gibson LCA Party Conference
Saturday 04 Mar 2000 What a week this has been. Cannabis has been officially proven to relieve the symptoms of MS. Cleveland police have called for legalisation. And to top it all I am here! I had better get on with this before cannabis is legalised!!!! I have both medicinal and recreational interests in the legalisation of cannabis. My wife Lezley has multiple sclerosis and has campaigned for the legalisation of cannabis for a great many years, with my full support. In fact it is possible that Lezley may be one of the first people to have argued for a medicinal use of cannabis, in the crown court in 1989. Although she was not entirely successful, when the judge was told that Lezley had MS and used cannabis medicinally, he commented "we cant blame her for that". He then issued a conditional discharge. Lesley discovered the benefits of cannabis 14 years ago. Whilst smoking recreationally with me she realised that she had never felt so well since being diagnosed as having multiple sclerosis. She has continued to use cannabis on a daily basis, as this is the only treatment available to her that actually works. Since 1989 we have had our home raided a further two times, the most recent being August 1999. On that occasion Lezley gave the police 8gms of bud. She was not arrested, but told to attend Carlisle police station the following week. Without making a charge the police referred her case to the crown prosecution service. Some ten weeks later a summons arrived. Legal aid was refused on two occasions. After lengthy arguments the magistrates granted legal aid, and referred the case for trial at Carlisle crown court on 20/03/00. I will keep you informed as to the outcome. There has been extensive media coverage of Lezleys case including: The Times and The Independent. CCnews, Weed World and CLCIA especially deserve our thanks for all the help they have given over the last few months. I think what finally convinced me to stand for the LCA is the injustices carried out on a daily basis to ordinary people. I would like to take a couple of minutes to tell you about, a close personal friend, a talented and popular person. An inspirational figure to many. In 1998 the police stopped and searched my friend's car, on information received. A very small amount of cannabis resin was recovered; my friend was arrested and charged with possession. On hearing of his conviction, his employers immediately terminated his employment and escorted him from the premises without even allowing farewells to his colleagues. He could no longer afford to run his home and moved in with Lezley and myself until he found alternative accommodation. He moved into a bed-sit and eventually had his car repossessed. Through all this he tried to continue with his life. Losing the means to live, he lost the will to live. On 24/02/99, my friend took his own life. The reason I have told you this story is to illustrate the otherwise untold misery that the prohibition of cannabis causes to many law-abiding people. Being caught with even a small amount brings not only a caution or a fine, but a stigma that can prevent an individual from leading a normal life. Let me give you a few examples; Loss of job. Household insurance denied. Visa denied. (Ask Howard, but I doubt he wants to go to the States!) It is time to become aware of the broader picture. There are thousands of people with a conviction that will come back to haunt them. It is OK for Blair and Hague to offer impunity to any of their MPs that admit to smoking cannabis, but will that admission cause them to suffer a personal injustice? I don't think so. There is no justice in having one law for the influential and one for the rest of us. So may I suggest that you all take the time to write to you MP and tell them what you think? Seek new endorsees of the LCAs principles, aims, and proposals and get active. Of course the idea of getting potheads off their backsides and into the roach tray of political activism might strike many of you as a joke. It does me, sometimes. But when your door is being hammered down by the police, and your family and friends brutalised and stigmatised by a criminalising system it takes the grin off your face. The law is unjust and as a citizen who has witnessed and suffered that injustice I feel I have a duty to seek its repeal. Thank you.
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