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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: City MP backs cannabis cafe idea
Norwich Evening News Thursday 18 Oct 2001 A NORWICH MP is backing legislation which would allow cannabis to be smoked in licensed cafes in the city. Dr Ian Gibson, for Norwich North, is one of the sponsors of Cardiff MP Jon Owen Jones's Legalisation of Cannabis Bill which is due to be debated in the House of Commons next Friday. "I think East Anglian farmers should be allowed to grow cannabis," Dr Gibson said. "We could have bumper crops and that would help their financial recovery." He also believes that "as in Holland", people should also be allowed to buy and smoke the drug in "cannabis cafes" and other authorised premises, including off-licences. "I am sure Norfolk people are already going over to Holland to try it out,"Dr Gibson said. Asked why he was supporting the Bill, he replied: "Why not?" He said there was no evidence that cannabis led to hard drugs, and decrimin-alisation "would take a lot of people peddling drugs out of the market." The therapeutic use of cannabis in treating patients was also "well-established", he added. In launching his Bill, Mr Jones said the measure would "remove criminals from the equation" and could provide a "hardy cash crop" for British farmers left on their knees by foot-and-mouth disease, BSE, tumbling dairy prices and concerns over GM crops. His legislation is unlikely to become law because of its low place in the list of Private Members' Bills, but it comes after a noticeable shift in public attitudes to the drug.
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