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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Cannabis festival organiser cleared
Nino Williams Streatham Guardian
Friday 30 Jan 2004 A legal battle which threatened Lambeth's annual cannabis march and festival has been resolved after organisers were found not guilty of breaching licensing conditions. Licence permit holder Shane Collins appeared before Tower Bridge magistrates last Wednesday charged with violating licence conditions at last year's festival in Brockwell Park. Lambeth Council alleged that a sound system remained on past the agreed curfew, but the case was thrown out. Shane Collins, the Green Party's drugs spokesman and candidate for the London Assembly, said after the verdict: "Debt-ridden Lambeth Council brought this petty prosecution for a minor infringement of the licensing law pertaining to the festival. We estimate this court case has cost Lambeth taxpayers UKP30,000." Last year's Lambeth cannabis festival was held simultaneously with 317 other similar events across the world, attracting up to 15,000 to Brockwell Park. Mr Collins feared that if the prosecution against them had been successful, it would have put this year's event in jeopardy. During the hearing magistrates questioned the prosecution as to why it had brought the case. Mr Collins claimed that the sound system had over run by only 85 seconds. A Lambeth Council spokesman said: "We remain of the view that we were right to take this position on the basis that it was in the public interest. "Previous events in Brockwell Park, including those organised by Mr Collins, have given rise to complaints about noise and disturbance." --=======3A1C5C5F=======--
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