UK - Protest Redditch - Sat. Oct. 18, 2008

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Hopes of town cannabis protestors go up in smoke

THE CAMPAIGN leader of a pro-cannabis protest group that came to Redditch last
weekend (October 18) has admitted the rally was "disappointing".
Only a couple of hundred activists turned out for the eight-hour static
demonstration in the town centre against so-called "unjust" cannabis laws,
despite organisers previously claiming their mass protest in Redditch would hit
Home Secretary and town MP Jacqui Smith "where it most hurts".
Some residents were said to have avoided the area amid rumours campaigners were
set to cause trouble in the town.
But the biggest disappointment for leader Jim Starr, otherwise known as 'Pinky',
was the fact that Ms Smith continued to ignore the pleas of thousands of
medicinal users on her own doorstep and didn't turn up to talk to protesters as
invited.
The protest follows the Home Secretary's decision earlier in the year to
reclassify cannabis as a class B drug, despite advice from the Advisory Council
for the Misuse of Drugs.
Pinky said: "We want answers as to why she wasted heaps of taxpayers' money and
disregarded the outcome of the report that recommended cannabis remain at class
C?
"But if anything, this demonstration has proved by her failure to turn up that
she's the kind of person who stays quiet and hopes a problem will go away - but
we will not go away.
"People in pain should have the right to use the only substance that works,
without the fear of prosecution."
The Government's decision to reclassify cannabis as a class B drug under the
Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 was announced by Ms Smith in May on "public safety"
grounds.
The Home Office said at the time there was real public concern about the
potential mental health effects of cannabis use and, in particular, the use and
availability of stronger kinds of cannabis.


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