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UK: Pot Seeds proud to co-sponsor NORML UK AGM
Potseeds Friday 24 May 2013 The two day event hosted a range of speakers, all of which were all of the opinion prohibition of cannabis is unjust and has been an expensive failure. Speakers included, ex-chief constable of Cambridgeshire, Tom Lloyd, ex-MI5 intelligence officer, Annie Machon, an ex-Detective Inspector who served with the fraud squad of the Metropolitan police, Rowan Bosworth Davies, and drug reform campaigners, Mat Southwell (an ‘International Drug User Activist & Drug Specialist), Gary Sutton (Release), Greg de Hoedt (UK Cannabis Social Clubs) and Ayesha Mian (Students for Sensible Drug Policy SSDP) and Free Rob Cannabis. The conference was also attended by Howard Marks aka Mr Nice, who gave a performance of his critically acclaimed one-man show, an Evening With Mr Nice, on the Saturday evening of the conference. Howard, a former cannabis smuggler who now owns the Mr Nice cannabis seed bank, spent much of the day mingling and having a toke with conference delegates. Former senior police officers Tom Lloyd and Rowan Bosworth-Davies drew on their experiences working as police officers as to why they believed prohibition of drugs doesn't work and the need for our politicians to be forward thinking and reform and modernise Britain's drug laws. They spoke about the injustice of a law that seeks to prevent medical cannabis users who might want grow some cannabis seeds to provide themselves with medication to alleviate the symptoms of various conditions like Multiple Sclerosis or fibromyalgia. Rowan Bosworth-Davies, who is Chair of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition in the UK (LEAP), spoke of the hundreds of millions of pounds of drug money that is laundered by criminal gangs and how as soon as one is shut down, another pops up, because the tax-free profits in the drugs trade are just so huge, they will never stop it. He called for the drugs trade, including cannabis, to be taken out of the hands of criminals and instead be taxed and regulated by governments. Neither Tom Lloyd or Rowan Bosworth-Davies said they used cannabis, but still they wanted to see cannabis laws changed. Another speaker was ex-MI5 intelligence officer, Annie Machon, also from LEAP; again she spoke of the massive waste of money that is prohibition and how counterproductive the policy is. Gary Sutton, who is head of the Release drugs team, gave a presentation about the cultivation of cannabis seeds and the difficulties and inconsistencies in the valuation of cannabis plants when people are brought before the courts. The conference also included talks from drug law reform campaigners Mat Southwell and Ayesha Main from SSDP who both spoke of the need to educate young people properly with the aim of enabling them to make informed decisions about drug use based on evidence rather than the propaganda fed to them by the media. The second day of the conference was started by long standing cannabis activist, Free Rob Cannabis, who runs the Hemp in Avalon shop in Glastonbury, which sells hemp products and cannabis seeds. Free gave a talk about the many positive uses of the hemp plant and told how he eats hemp seeds every day. All in all the conference was considered a resounding success where like minded people from many different walks of life got together, but all with one common aim, a desire to see cannabis laws in the UK changed, so people can legally grow cannabis seeds in the privacy of their own homes or be able to buy cannabis from regulated commercial outlets, rather than leaving the trade to the criminal black market. The conference ended with an inspiring speech from NORML UK Outreach Director and founder of the UK Cannabis Social Clubs, Greg de Hoedt, who is himself a medicinal cannabis consumer. Greg spoke of his time in California where he saw the real benefits of access to proper bud grown from cannabis seeds where you actually know the genetics of the plant, rather than any random poor quality cannabis that is often sold on the streets of Britain. Pot Seeds, who co-sponsored the event along with Weedworld and Dutch Passion Cannabis Seeds, congratulate NORML UK for putting on such a memorable and informative conference and look forward to many more similar events in the future. http://www.potseeds.co.uk/blog/pot-seeds-proud-to-co-sponsor-norml-uk-agm/
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