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Rasta drug may be a human right, says judge Richard Ford Times Tuesday 19 Dec 2000 RASTAFARIANS should use the Human Rights Act if they want to prove that British drug laws are incompatible with a right to smoke cannabis as part of their religion, a Crown Court judge recommended yesterday. Judge Charles Gibson said that a High Court challenge could lead to a declaration that the law was incompatible with the Act. He said that the Rastafarian practice of selling cannabis could even be seen as comparable to fund-raising fairs held by Christians. The judge said that British Rastafarians should bring proceedings to the High Court if they felt they had a case, after he rejected an appeal by a cannabis dealer to change three guilty pleas to not guilty. Rasta Brown, 39, had pleaded guilty to one count of possessing the drug and two of possessing with intent to supply when at Camberwell Magistrates Court in South London four months ago. He was due to be sentenced at the Inner London Crown Court last month but applied to change his pleas following the introduction of the Human Rights Act. Brown, of Stockwell, South London, claimed that he was entitled to sell and smoke marijuana because it is accepted as part of Rastafarianism, which has protection under the Act. Article nine says that everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. When he was arrested for offering cannabis to an undercover police officer, Brown admitted that it was because he wanted to pay off a loan and support the mother of his children. He said he had done nothing wrong as the use and sale of marijuana was a key part of Rastafarian culture. Brown was arrested in June in Brixton in possession of seven bags containing 20.36g of the drug, with a further 516mg in his shorts. Police found another 128g at his home. Rufus DCruz, for the defence, said that while the weed was not mentioned in the 16 tenets of Rastafarianism it was considered an aid to worship, a medicine and a source of income. It was regarded as a sacred commodity and sacrament incense with authority for its use derived from the Bible. The matter has always been central to the Rastafarian community, culture and religion for decades, if not centuries, he said, adding that Brown prepared cannabis infusions for Rastafarians suffering from a conditions such as multiple sclerosis. Brown had told police that he regarded marijuana as a herb originally grown in the Garden of Eden for the use of mankind for religious, culinary and medicinal purposes. Mr DCruz said that his clients prosecution involved an infringement of his right as a Rastafarian. The judge, in his ruling, said: That the use of the herb is a practice adopted by the majority though apparently not all Rastafarians would appear to be undeniable. But it does not follow that something which is a practice or a characteristic . . . is in addition a manifestation of religion or belief. He said that there might be a parallel between the practice of Rastafarians to make commercial use of cannabis and the practice of most denominations of Christians to hold fund-raisers, but he said that he saw substantial difficulties in asserting that the Human Rights Act protected commercial dealing in any way. He rejected defence claims that Brown should be allowed to try to convince a jury to disregard the law and reach a common sense verdict by acquitting him.
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