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UK: Fighting on to legalise cannabis

Max Channon

This Is Cornwall

Thursday 01 Nov 2001

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Cannabis crusader Kevin Lippiatt has vowed to keep on fighting the law -
despite being found guilty of producing the herbal drug by a Truro Crown Court.

Mr Lippiatt, 39, a former prospective Parliamentary candidate who 'turned
himself on and in' to Penzance police station smoking a joint, had hoped to
set a legal precedent by getting a Crown Court Jury to decide the laws
surrounding cannabis were unjust.

The case continues a campaign which controversially made the front page of
The Cornishman in 1999 when Mr Lippiatt announced he would give away bags
of 'Marijuana Mega Mix' in Morrab Gardens - and dared the authorities to
prove what he was doing was illegal.

Mr Lippiatt had hoped to be prosecuted in a trial by jury - but all charges
were eventually dropped.

In this trial, the court heard that a police officer had spotted four
cannabis plants growing on a window sill in Camborne and when asked if he
had grown the plants, Mr Lippiatt replied: "Good grief, yes" - but denied
illegally cultivating the cannabis.

Defending himself, Mr Lippiatt spent over 45 minutes telling the jury of
his involvement with cannabis, his campaigning on environmental or humane
issues and his commitment to a better world. He asked the jury to return a
not guilty verdict based on their conscience and not the evidence.

"Morally I believe I have done nothing wrong," declared Mr Lippiatt, who in
previous court cases has set legal precedents which have won homeless
people the right to vote and allowed outside agencies to monitor the
pollution levels created by industries.

However, this time the jury returned a unanimous 12-0 guilty verdict and
Judge Graham Cottle fined him £50 and ordered him to pay £500 towards the
prosecution costs, stressing that the court was not the place for him to
use as a platform for his cause.

"You can set up your soapbox anywhere else but not in a court of law," said
Judge Cottle.

Speaking after the trial Mr Lippiatt said: "Obviously I had hoped for a
win, but a lot of people within in the legal system had warned me that this
result would probably happen.

"I quoted the law and referred to the judgement in 1670 by Sir Justice
Vaughan that says the jury has the duty to judge the law before it listens
to the evidence and decides whether a person is guilty.

"However, the judge said that the Crown Court was no place to judge the
justice of the law - if that's the case, where is the place?"

Mr Lippiatt has vowed to continue his crusade to get cannabis legalised.

 

 

 

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