POT IN THE PARK
PARTY PLANNED
Source: York
Evening Press, UK
Pub Date:
Thursday, 18 September 2003
Web: http://www.thisisyork.co.uk/york/news/YORK_NEWS_LOCAL3.html
Cited: Legalise Cannabis Alliance
POT IN THE PARK PARTY PLANNED
Pot in the park
party planned
CANNABIS campaigners
plan to roll up in York and hold a picnic with a difference - a "smokey
bears picnic."
Later this
month, pro-legalisation activists will gather in the Museum Gardens for the
event, at which cannabis is likely to be smoked openly.
York businessman
Steve Clements, who is publicising the event, said he did not know the identity
of the "smokey bears."
Mr Clements, who
recently announced his plans to stand in the City of York seat for the Legalise
Cannabis Alliance at the next general election, said: "I am not involved
with the organisation. The first I heard of it was when a leaflet appeared on
my doorstep.
"The smokey
bears travel around the country organising these picnics. This one coincides
with the latest Home Office guidelines on cannabis, which are nothing more than
a fudge."
Cannabis is due
to be downgraded from a class B to a class C substance in January. It will
still be illegal to possess it, and the maximum sentence for dealing is set to
go up to 14 years.
York police
superintendent Alison Higgins said officers would research the event before
deciding on a police response. But she warned picnic-goers they are likely to
face arrest if they smoke a joint.
York's event is
due to start at 1pm on September 27.