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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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Advance notice - MEP to be arrested?
Chris Davies MEP MEP's Official Press release
Tuesday 11 Dec 2001 Contact: Chris Davies MEP ( 07787 504516 ) MEP TO BE ARRESTED? A North West Euro-MP is planning to seek arrest for possession of cannabis in a protest aimed at supporting the imprisoned owner of Britain's first Dutch-style 'coffee shop'. Chris Davies, the Liberal Democrat MEP for the North West, will seek on Saturday 15 December at 10.00am to be arrested by Greater Manchester Police for possession of a tiny amount of cannabis resin on a postage stamp. This is likely to take place at the police station, Lee Street, Stockport. He wants to draw attention to the experience of his constituent, Mr Colin Davies (no relation), founder of the 'Dutch Experience' coffee shop in Stockport. Colin Davies, who admits to helping people with medical problems obtain the drug to relieve pain, is currently in Strangeways prison on remand while awaiting trial on cannabis-related offences. He has been repeatedly denied bail despite never having being convicted of a drugs- related offence. Similar 'coffee shops' in The Netherlands have been permitted for nearly 20 years. They are said to have contributed to a fall in the use of 'hard' drugs in that country, which in any case is much less than in Britain. MEP Chris Davies has never smoked or used illegal drugs and does not intend to do so on this occasion. However, he believes that the law is in urgent need of reform. The Liberal Democrat will say: "Hundreds of British politicians admit in private that the law on cannabis is a nonsense. It is time that more of them spoke out publicly. "The legal priorities are wrong. Last year some 50,000 people were arrested for possession of cannabis, a drug which the medical journal The Lancet claims is less harmful than alcohol. In the same period nearly 800 young people in Britain died of alcohol-induced cirrhosis of the liver. It is not surprising that many police officers admit that they have better things to do with their time than arrest people for a supposed offence which causes no harm to anyone else. "Ten years ago I worked for the Shopping Hours Reform Council, sponsored by Tesco, Sainsburys and the Kingfisher Group to campaign for a change in the law on Sunday trading at a time. By opening his 'coffee shop' Colin Davies is doing no more and no less than the superstores did then when they challenged the law and opened on Sundays to meet public demand." A Liberal Democrat working group last week called for a national policy of non-prosecution for possession and social supply of cannabis. The proposal, which will be debated by party members at a conference in March, is expected to be endorsed as Liberal Democrat policy.
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