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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Cannabis claim copper removed from post
Reuters
Monday 18 Mar 2002 LONDON (Reuters) - A top police officer at the centre of an investigation into allegations by his gay ex-lover of illegal drug use has been removed from his post. A statement by Scotland Yard said Commander Brian Paddick, dubbed "Commander Crackpot" by the tabloid media, was being moved to non-operational policing duties while the inquiry was being conducted. The decision came after talks between the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) and Commissioner Sir John Stevens early on Monday, as a result of revelations about Paddick's private life in a Sunday newspaper. James Renolleau claimed in The Mail on Sunday that he and Paddick had regularly smoked marijuana at their London flat during a five year relationship. The allegation also comes just months after Paddick pioneered a cannabis project in London's Brixton area where people are now cautioned on possession rather than arrested. He also created controversy when he told a radical website he found anarchy "attractive". Tony Harris, chair of the MPA, said on BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "People who stick their necks out in any large organisation often get attacked from within. "As a police authority we're very keen to make sure that is not something allowed to happen but where serious allegations are made they have to be investigated." Paddick has denied the allegations made by his former lover. He was quoted in the paper as saying: "I totally deny having smoked cannabis. On a couple of occasions James purchased some cannabis while we were living together and smoked it in front of me." Scotland Yard said he has not been suspended and no decision will be made whether Paddick returns to the borough of Lambeth until the outcome of the inquiry is known.
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