Pubdate: Sun, 30 Jun 2002
Source: Independent on Sunday (UK)
Copyright: Independent Newspapers (UK) Ltd.
Contact:  http://www.independent.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/208
Author: Robert Mendick, Andrew Johnson

TAXPAYER TO FOOT UKP1M BILL FOR UKP1 CANNABIS USERS

When cannabis campaigners set out to get themselves arrested they wanted to
highlight what they consider to be the ludicrous and draconian nature of
Britain's drugs laws.

They did the job admirably. The prosecution of 29 cannabis campaigners, who
were caught in possession of as little as UKP1 worth of the drug, is likely
to cost a staggering UKP1m. The final bill may be even higher. Among those
charged are two Euro MPs.

The remarkable campaign follows a series of raids on Britain's first
Amsterdam-style cannabis café, which opened last year in Stockport, Greater
Manchester.

The café, the Dutch Experience, remains open for business but the arrest of
its founder, Colin Davies, prompted a series of mass protests outside
Stockport magistrates court and the town's police station. Arrests were made
in November, December and January with 24 activists demanding police arrest
them for holding up or smoking small amounts of the drug in front of them.

The Lord Chancellor's Department admitted last night it expects the legal
aid bill alone to exceed UKP300,000. With the costs of the prosecution,
police and court time thrown in, the cost to the taxpayer will top UKP1m and
may reach UKP2m, defence lawyers said.

The mass protests followed the arrest of Mr Davies and four fellow activists
for the possession and sale of cannabis at the Dutch Experience. Mr Davies
claims to take the drug to alleviate severe back pain. He claims he was
selling the drug at his café to subsidise the free distribution of cannabis
to sick people, many of them suffering from multiple sclerosis, around the
country.

His trial was due to begin this week but has now been put back to September.
The delay has added to the spiralling legal costs. They also include keeping
Mr Davies, 44, on remand in Strangeways prison, Manchester. He has since
been released on bail but has been gagged by a court order from talking to
the press about his campaign to legalise the drug.

Defendants charged with cannabis possession have the option of having the
case heard before a jury in a crown court rather than the cheaper option of
a magistrates court hearing.

It is thought all the defendants will opt for a crown court trial to
highlight the "ludicrous" cannabis laws and the huge expense of prosecuting
people for possession of a drug, which the Home Office's own advisers admit
is less addictive than alcohol or tobacco.

Mr Davies, who must live in Todmorden, Lancashire, while on bail, said: "I
am trying to find out whether I can say that the cannabis laws are a
disgrace. If I can't say that in this country it is a massive breach of my
rights."

Mr Davies is also barred from talking to any defendants subsequently charged
in Stockport in the direct action protests. That means he cannot talk to his
own Liberal Democrat MEP, Chris Davies (no relation), who was arrested
alongside a colleague from Italy with possession of about UKP2 worth of the
drug. Mr Davies has never smoked cannabis but wanted to protest at the
draconian laws. He is demanding a crown court trial.

"I support Colin Davies and all he is doing," said Mr Davies, MEP for the
NorthWest. "I support the whole principle of the Dutch-style café. I am
prepared to take whatever punishment is meted out but I simply don't think
these prosecutions should be taking place."

A spokeswoman for Greater Manchester police said: "We have to enforce the
law as it stands no matter what the costs."

'They should try the experiment somewhere like Westminster' 

It is one year since police in Brixton, south London, began not arresting
people for simple possession of cannabis. Opinion on the trial period is
mixed, as locals make clear - especially when it comes to legalisation and
the problem of dealers 

Patricia Kilroy, 63, moved here in 1961 "because it was a nice area" but no
longer goes out after dark. "We see people smoking it openly all the time.
It's an everyday thing but not a good thing. The dealing makes me feel
nervous. Years ago you knew it happened but you didn't really see it... It's
fine behind closed doors but the dealing leads to violence."

Othman Mohammed, 31, showing the scars from a car accident -"of all the
medication none worked as effectively as cannabis" - thinks the
softly-softly approach is "brilliant. The police should concentrate on rape
and crack cocaine. The problem is dealers that will continue to deal crack
if cannabis was legalised. If they want to destroy society, blame them and
not cannabis."

Sandrine Vasselin, 28, from France, doesn't "think your country's ready for
relaxed drug laws because you have no other solutions in place. You should
look at Switzerland, where they managed it more efficiently because they
invested in alternative ways of dealing with the problem. But as far as it
leaves the police free to concentrate on other crimes, it's a good thing."

Mark Ashley, 35, is "not mad about the experiment. If it's designed to let
police concentrate on other crimes then they should be funded properly to
fight all crime. They should try the experiment somewhere like Hampstead or
Westminster... As soon as we allow a certain amount of liberty with drugs
it's going to cause problems unless we legalise the dealers."

Adam Orr- Ewing, 25, believes it has got rid of harder drugs. "There used to
be crack heads and junkies plaguing Windrush Square but this has allowed the
police to concentrate resources and I've seen a definite reduction. Smoking
cannabis isn't going to go away. If we're going to legalise it, we should do
it properly and tax it and put the tax back into the community."

Juanita Radway, 70 (who asked not to be pictured), is unimpressed. "This
government goes softly-softly on everything. I used to be a health visitor
and the majority of people who suffer from drugs are the black
under-educated youngsters. They drop out of school, have no discipline from
their parents and get into drugs. Look at the free-for-all in Jamaica to see
where this will go. We need to go back to discipline in the home."
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