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UK: Emma takes pot luck in election

Widnes Weekly News

Thursday 18 Jan 2001

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Widnes Weekly News
Thurs, Jan 18, 2001

Emma takes pot luck in election

Legalise Cannabis Alliance candidate to stand for council
Exclusive
By Simon Drury


STUDENT Emma O'Neil has high hopes of upsetting Widnes's political scene
when she stands for a place on the council under the legalise cannabis
banner.

Twenty-four-year-old Emma has decided to come clean and admit to the
world that she enjoys smoking cannabis.

But she says she's no dope and aims to make a serious political stand
when she challenges for a seat in the town's Appleton ward in the May
election.

Emma, of Peelhouse Lane, Widnes, is standing as a candi-date for the
Legalise Cannabis Al-liance in the seat currently occupied by Labour
trio Stan Broome, Eddie Jones and Ged Philbin.

Multi media student Emma be-lieves it is high time cannabis was
legalised and says the drug should be sold openly in special cafes,
similar to the system in Amsterdam.

And she claims anti-drug cam-paigners are wrong when they claim dabbling
with cannabis can lead to a dependency on harder drugs.

She told the Weekly News: 'I have been smoking cannabis since I was 16
and it has never done me any harm.

'It is wrong that so many people are regarded as criminals just be-cause
they enjoy smoking cannabis recreationally. If the drug were legalised,
it would mean young people would not have to come into contact with drug
dealers and, so, would be far less likely to move on to other drugs.

'I hope people will vote for me because they would like to see a change
in this ridiculous law.

'By standing up to be counted. I have nothing to fear. I want to go to
university and I know everyone will now know that I smoke cannabis, but
everything will be out in the open and I can never be thought of as a
hypocrite.'

Emma also believes cannabis has great medicinal powers and should be
legalised so patients suffering from multiple sclerosis can take the
drug to ease pain and muscle cramps.

She said: 'I don't think there is any doubt any more that cannabis has
dozens of beneficial powers.

'It is time there was a serious de-bate into the issue of drugs. Alcohol
and tobacco cause far more problems than cannabis and are far more
addictive.'

But Emma's stance looks certain to attract criticism. A fortnight ago
the Weekly News revealed that chil-dren in Halton are at the mercy of
the biggest rise in drug use in Cheshire and Merseyside.

Shock figures showed the bor-ough had registered more new users than
North Liverpool, Bootle, St Helens and the Wirral put to-gether.

But last week the green light was given to a £26,000 cash injection from
Cheshire Constabulary to go towards funding a substance misuse worker to
liaise between Halton Borough Council and drug and alcohol agencies.

Appleton ward councillor Ged Philbin said: 'I do think that there. is a
lot of evidence to prove that cannabis is of medical benefit for some
ailments, but at the same time we all have to act within the constraints
of the law.

It will make the election very in-teresting and it will allow us to
gauge the level of support for legal-ising cannabis.'

 

 

 

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