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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Gone to pot?
Mark Stead South Wales Echo
Wednesday 17 Oct 2001 Struggling farmners should grow cannabis, says MP A CARDIFF MP who wants to legalise cannabis claims it could be grown by struggling Wales' farmers to help recover from the foot and mouth crisis. Jon Owen Tones will today launch a Private Members Bill in the House of Commons to decriminalise the drug. The Cardiff Central MP claims legalising cannabis would remove criminals from the equation and could provide a hardy cash crop for farmers hit by foot and mouth, BSE and plummeting diary prices. He said the National Assembly should be given powers to award licenses to them. The Cardiff Central MP and former Welsh Office minister will next week ask MPs to give a second reading to a Bill legalising cannabis. Mr Jones said the present law was not working and also led to huge amounts of money ending up in criminal hands. He said it was estimated some £1.5bn of cannabis was marketed in the UK. "This is a very significant amount of money which could benefit farmers," he said. He told the Echo he favoured farmers being allowed to grow cannabis under licence from the Home Office but said he could see the advantages of transferring the power in Wales to the assembly. "The present policy puts huge amounts of money into the hands of criminal gangs," he added. His Legalisation of Cannabis Bill, due to be debated in the Commons next week, is unlikely to become law but has been backed by several high-profile MP's, including former Tory Cabinet minister Peter Lilley. Mr Jones' Bill would legalise personal cultivation of cannabis and its use for therapeutic and recreational purposes, with a Government licensing system being created. One of the Bill's supporters is Newport West MP Paul Flynn, who said: "I believe it has many advantages. It would create, at no cost, hundreds of thousands of hours of police, prison and court time and I believe it would also lead to a reduction in crime." A spokeswoman for the National Farmers Union said: "British farmers have no plans to grow a crop considered harmful. Whether or not it should be legalised is a matter for due legal process, but if it was, it should be a market for British farmers."
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