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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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Cannabis use is endemic. Legalising it would not create a surge in use Steve Clements York Evening Post Tuesday 02 Sep 2003 In the week when the Dutch government announced that its doctors will be=20 able to prescribe cannabis to patients, STEVE CLEMENTS, right, argues that= =20 it is time to legalise the drug in Britain I READ with great interest the Evening Press article "Patients may get=20 cannabis" (August 20). At last tests are being carried out to confirm what= =20 medical users of cannabis have been saying for years. It's good to hear that this amazing plant may at last be returned to its=20 medicinal use, recognised for thousands of years. Cannabis causes far less= =20 harm than the horrendous man-made pain killers such as aspirin and=20 paracetamol which are available in every corner shop, and which harm or=20 kill thousands of people every year. However, testing cannabis for medical use is not enough. Cannabis needs to= =20 be legalised without delay. Thousands of law-abiding people are criminalised every year for using=20 cannabis, and some of them are very sick. This is a victimless crime, costs= =20 the taxpayer a ridiculous amount of money and in many cases contravenes=20 people's human rights of privacy and choice. In the meantime society's love of alcohol continues unchecked, as we now=20 see clothes shops seeking licenses to sell it, bringing further outlets=20 into the public arena to fuel the drink-frenzied economy. That will create= =20 more misery and more violence, not to mention more expense to the taxpayer,= =20 as the police try to control the streets and the NHS struggles to cope with= =20 the alcoholic aftermath. Alcohol costs us millions of pounds and leads to tens of thousands of=20 deaths every year. I wonder about the sense of it all as I walk to work on= =20 Sunday morning through the blood and vomit-stained streets of York, as our= =20 socially accepted use of one of the most dangerous drugs available=20 continues unabated. If the council grants licenses to clothes shops to sell alcohol, will they= =20 also grant me a license to open a cannabis caf=E9 in York? I can guarantee= =20 that the behaviour of customers at such an establishment would be far more= =20 acceptable than what we now see on our streets everyday outside our pubs=20 and clubs. The people of this country have had enough of spin and lies from=20 politicians and prohibitionists whose "war on drugs" has created the worst= =20 drug problem this country has faced. The present policies are an abject=20 failure and are letting down our young people, because the confusion=20 surrounding re-classification of cannabis has led to another Government= fudge. It's time for change, and time for a proper constructive debate on these=20 issues. Cannabis use is endemic in our society. Legalising it would not=20 create a surge in use, if anything its use would fall, as happened in= Holland. Everyone who wants to use cannabis is already doing so, and due to the=20 black market, impure, toxic cannabis resin is readily available to children= =20 throughout the country. I am so irritated by the failure of the authorities to address these issues= =20 properly that I have signed up as an endorsee of the Legalise Cannabis=20 Alliance, a registered political party. I also intend to put myself up for election in York, potentially at both=20 the next local and Parliamentary elections. I believe any laws based on lies and misinformation, and which lead to=20 continued arrests of the sick and innocent, are fundamentally flawed and=20 have no place in a modern democratic society. What are the authorities so afraid of with this plant? It's only in the=20 past 70 years or so that it has become so demonised, mainly due to racism=20 and the need for corporate profit. Did we learn nothing from the prohibition of alcohol in America during the= =20 1920s? A ban does not work, and as we have seen with the drug market, has=20 introduced modern day gangsters into our society, and how they have thrived. Now is the time for change, now is the time to look at these problems with= =20 common sense and realism and to implement workable policies which will=20 reduce hard drug use. The starting point has to be to take cannabis out of= =20 the criminal market to regulate its quality and supply, thus reducing harm= =20 and making the illegal market a thing of the past. Steve Clements is the prospective York candidate for the Legalise Cannabis= =20 Alliance Updated: 10:57 Wednesday, September 03, 2003
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