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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Welsh Cannabis Grower Reassured by Lib-Dem Leader Nick Clegg
Canna Zine Sunday 24 Aug 2008 A cannabis grower from South Wales has contacted the office of Liberal-Democrat party leader Nick Clegg, over a Ten Minute Rule Bill tabled by Liberal Democrat MP for Carshalton and Wallington, Mr Tom Brake. In the e-mail, Mr Norris Nuvo from Cardiff in South Wales, who is a member of the Legalise Cannabis Alliance , makes an emotional plea over what he sees as being caught between a rock, and a hard place, due to Tom Brake's personal battle with a local shop in Wallington, which sells cannabis seeds over a hundred miles from South Wales. The e-mail to Nick Clegg reads; I am a cannabis user who suffers extreme pain through a condition called Hidradenitis Suppurativa. My consultant has recommended I use cannabis as a pain killer as the opium based pain killers [codiene and Tramadol] both would cause liver damage with long term use and eventually lead to my death. I grow cannabis as I cannot buy it legally and have no wish to support criminals. At least I can legally buy my seeds. Nick Clegg's answer was 'crisp', and to the point.. If Tom Brake gets his way I would have to choose to either commit further crime by buying illegal seeds, live in pain, or take tablets which would kill me. What would YOU do? Norris Nuvo - Cardiff, South Wales Lib-Dems The Liberal Democrat party of the United Kingdom have long been seen as the sensible option so far as British cannabis law is concerned and in their official party manifesto published in 2005 for the last General Election, the Lib-Dems made it clear they intended to decriminalise personal possession of cannabis, and also remove cannabis from the criminal element by making it legal to grow one's own supply, with one or two limitations. They also coined the term "social supply", showing a clear understanding of how the majority of cannabis changes hands; via a network of friends, family and colleagues, and not, as the Labour run Home Office would have us believe, down at the drug dealers place of business. Thats not to say the Liberal Democrats support out-and-out deregulation and legalisation, as the manifesto went onto explain the Lib-Dems will keep cannabis a class C substance, while at the same time using a similar policy change as is in place in Holland, which recognises a citizens rights to use cannabis instead of alcohol, a recreational drug responsible for literally tens of thousands of deaths every year in the United Kingdom whilst cannabis is yet to be credibly linked to a single death anywhere in the world. But in order to keep the powers that be in the United Nations appeased, this policy falls short of full legalisation by a country mile, and yet it works elsewhere and it would work here in the UK. In a reply which came from Nick Cleggs office, the Liberal Democrats had this to say to Mr Nuvo; Dear Norris, Thanks for your email. We have contacted the office of Tom Brake on your behalf. Please find below his response to your points. As you can see from Tom’s letter, this is a campaign in response to a shop based in his constituency located close to a school. Be assured that the Lib Dems will continue to press for a drugs policy based on scientific evidence, not fear. Yours sincerely, V. Cardwell Correspondence Manager Office of Nick Clegg MP So according to the office of Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrats are still the party of choice if a more pragmatic approach to cannabis law rates highly on your agenda? Or are they? In a reply to Mr Nuvo's e-mail which came from Tom Brakes office, the MP goes on to say; Thank you for your email and the interesting points you make regarding the sale of cannabis seeds. The Liberal Democrats do wish to break the link between cannabis and organised crime. Our overstretched police, courts and prisons should be focusing their efforts on these organised criminals and this is why the Liberal Democrats are proposing tough new measures to combat dealers, including a new offence of ‘dealing’ to target those supplying illegal drugs over long periods of time, making it easier to confiscate their assets, and allowing the selling of drugs near children to be an aggravating factor in sentencing. Which is all good and well, but are we first going to remove cannabis from this new war on drug dealers by allowing people to supply themselves? Mr Brake doesn't say! He continues; I am against the Government’s proposed reclassification of cannabis from a Class C to a Class B drug because I believe that the Government’s policy on cannabis should be based on scientific evidence. The Advice Council on the Misuse of Drugs recommended that cannabis should remain a class C drug. I also recognise the important medical benefits the drug can have for many people and believe that the issue of prescribing cannabis for pain relief needs to be investigated. Now Mr Brake has fulfilled his commitment and expressed the party line in the first three paragraphs, the Parliamentary member for Wallington goes on to make his own point, which seems to come from the polar opposite end of the spectrum from which Nick Cleggs reply came from; Mr Brake continues, "The Ten Minute Rule Bill I launched in Parliament addresses the concerns of my constituents over the opening of a shop in my constituency selling cannabis seeds and other drugs paraphernalia. This shop, called ‘Your High’ is located in a residential area and around the corner from a local primary school." I do not believe that any shop should be allowed to trade openly in this way, particularly in an area where young children can see the large pictures of cannabis leafs that feature prominently in its windows, or see the products through the open door, which is almost permanently left open." What Mr Brake's reply didn't say, can be read on his website, which reads; Tom Brake said that 'Under current legislation there is nothing that the police or the Council can do to stop shops like 'Your High' from opening even when they are in such close proximity to schools. We must take urgent action.' He is working alongside local Lib Dem Councillors, School Governors, Teachers, Parents and the Police to ensure the law is changed, and 'Your High' is closed. Which is as sure a case of throwing the baby out with the bathwater as ever I've seen. Did anyone actually approach "Your High" in Wallington, with an offer of financial aid to relocate the business? Wouldn't that be cheaper in the long run, than taking up Parliamentary time discussing "parks and paths" policies from around Great Britain? It would appear this entire Ten Minute Rule Bill, made at great expense in the Houses of Parliament, is a way of Tom Brake showing his constituents how much parliamentary clout he has and little else. As a result, people like Norris Nuvo from South Wales, already breaking one law to provide himself a safe, clean, effective pain reliever under unofficial sanction from his doctor, is about to be forced into breaking another law should Tom Brake be successful with this 10 Minute Rule Bill? Lets hope common sense prevails and this bill stalls before it even gets going, for the sake of thousands of the UK population. Otherwise law abiding citizens, who run the risk of falling foul of an unenforceable law when they use cannabis to alleviate painful and debilitating symptoms, will be forced into court cases, fines and prison sentences, just for wishing to improve the quality of their lives, and that can't be right, can it? By Red Dragon NB. Mr Norris Nuvo's name was changed for his security, and also for that of his doctor, who faces prosecution for recommending cannabis, even if its proving to be the most effective course of treatment!!
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