POLITICAL PRESSURE TOWARDS LEGALISATION

Labour would do well to adopt a policy of PR as well as calling for the end to prosecutions for personal use or growing. In Norwich 1997, Howard Marks gained about 620 votes and LCA in 2001 about the same when I stood, about 1.5%. In wards LCA gained up to 5%, even more elsewhere. The LCA had been founded, as you know, to bring the debate into the arena and give campaigners a voice, to influence the other party policies. As you know the last LCA candidate was in 2006. In 2005 general election the LCA vote had gone down to half that, about 0.8%. Politics had become more complicated by issues that people gave more priority to, such as ID and Iraq. Since then there were less than successful attempts at standing under the banner of CISTA.

Also give the estimated 4 million tokers, the million or so that have been criminalised or persecuted, the families, IF only that were a true political force.

To put pressure on the parties we should be telling them that IF they want our support and voted then they MUST stand for Justice and Rights in all issues and pledge to legalise, and see how far they go. The Green Party and Lib Dems both changed policies as result or political pressure, not because they had already recognised even some of the real issues that cannabis and hemp are connected to.

BUT what I saw on FB running up to the election was numerous people more or less saying they would vote Labour / Corbyn, to get rid of Tory / May, irrespective of the fact that Labour are pro-prohibition.

Don't get me wrong, they should have voted Labour if that is how they felt (as did I, after consulting the candidate to find our his views and getting a positive reply. Nobody know how any of us actually vote - but POLITICAL PRESSURE is before the election -

so to further to cause of ending cannabis prohibition, and all other issues we choose to fight for or against, do you agree that we should try to focus again on building an effective political force, with or without a new or existing party

I believe that if Labour had called for legalisation and put it in their manifesto, they would have won more seats, including Norwich North where the candidate Dr Chris Jones told me he supported legalisation but as far as I know did not say so in public or on his election literature.
 http://www.ccguide.org/lca/election_results.php 

Communication with Dr Chris Jones, Labour Party Candidate for Norwich North, 2017

Sent May 22 2017 

FAO Dr Chris Jones, Norwich North candidate: 

I would like to know your PERSONAL position on the issue of cannabis and the law and would you support a bill to legalise it if given a free vote. Alun Buffry

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reply May 24 2017

REPLY from my Labour party candidate, Norwich North:

"Dear Alun.

""Thanks for getting in touch.

Personally I support legalisation - as a doctor and a psychiatrist I would advise everyone not to use drugs because I have seen the damage that they can do. Much of the cannabis that is widely available these days, is far stronger than it was many years ago and has a greater potential for causing psychiatric damage. However, I strongly believe that criminalisation does more harm than good and that a properly regulated legal market similar to that as is currently used in The Netherlands, would be far better than the current situation.

"Kind regards

Chris Jones."

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sent June 11 2017

Dear Dr Chris Jones,

Sorry to see that you lost by so few votes. Your stance on cannabis law won you mine.

I sincerely believe that given the estimated number of people that consume cannabis and / or would like to see prohibition repealed, based on the national estimates, at least 5000 of them in Norwich North , I think it was a shame that you did not broadcast your personal views on cannabis further, as I believe you may well have won those extra 502 + votes.

Howard Marks won over 600 votes on the single issue in each of Norwich North and Norwich South constituencies in 1997 and I won over 600 votes in Norwich South on the single issue in 2001. In the local council elections, cannabis candidates won from 2 to 5% of the vote.

You can see the cannabis party election results here: http://www.ccguide.org/lca/election_results.php

I hope that should there be another election soon, or not, that you wil make some sort of public statement in favour or repeal of prohibition and an end to the punishment of victimles consumers and growers.

I further hope that this can be brought to the attention of Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party committees.

I know personally some people who gave their votes to the Greens or Lib Dems and others who just did not vote at all, especially in constituenccies where the Labour candidate did not publicly support the end of cannabis prohibition.

Alun Buffry

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reply: Hi Alun.

Thank you for your kind words and for putting your trust in me - it genuinely means a lot. To lose by such a small margin is incredibly frustrating, but we can be proud of significantly reducing Chloe Smith's majority, particularly considering that UKIP stood aside to give her a free run. There's every chance that there'll be another election soon, which I think will end in our favour.

It's been a very busy period and I'm not sure where the Labour Party are in regards to such proposals, I expect such changes will only be possible if a good majority is achieved at the next election - whenever that may be!

Thanks again for getting in touch.

Kind regards

Chris Jones.

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sent June 17 2017 

You missed the point Chris Jones - the point is to put pressure on the Labour Party NOW so that they change their ridiculous nonsensical and unjustice policy of supporting cannabis prohibition and the punishments and hardships that go with it, to get Labour to include legalisation in their next manifesto (that is the promise to legalise) and in that way win votes and the next election. The time to strat that is now.

I KNOW the Labour party position on this, how come that you are "not sure"? I hoped that you knew the party position. Jeremy Corbyn has said that he supports cannabis as a medicine. Well who but an ignoranus would not? But that shows that JC has not adequately studies the issues: for starters over on emillion UK citizens have been criminalised, have criminal records and along with those convictions, limitations o travel, employment, insurance and medicines, despite having committed no other crimes, whilst continuing to allow massive pharamaceutical businesses to make huge profits selling often ineffective and mostly dangerous drugs and on the other hands criminals are out of the street selling the very same drugs and cannabis that concern us all. Alun Buffry

Lib Dems promise to control your choice of cannabis

I sent this to the Lib Dems via their web site but as yet have not received a reply, only an acknowledgent saying they are very busy:

“so your argument goes like this: skunk is made and sold by gangsters and a small number of people may have experiences bad effects on their mental health and so you want to legalise weaker strains and stop every adult getting it, even those that experience tremendous medical benefits?

“firstly, once again I am disappointed that you fail to understand and support the Human Rights to a Private Life and the freedom of choice and practice of one's own beliefs and prefer to force your own beliefs about "skunk" on everyone.

“this is just another form of prohibition.

“secondly, you seem to misunderstand that certain strains of high THC low CBN cannabis plants are grown and sold illegally simply because many people prefer them - as is evident in Dutch coffeeshops and Barcelona Cannabis Clubs where there is plenty of choice including different ratios.

“in fact, "skunk" seems to have become a word applied to cannabis plants with high THC and the original "skunk" is no longer available on the streets of the UK.

“your logic, if applied to alcohol, would suggest you may support a ban on alcoholic spirits above a certain strength because some people that drink them have problems?

“ if you "legalise" cannabis in this way you will ensure that those that want the high THC low-CBD varieties will either grow their own or buy from illegally grown crops and leave a massive opening for the "gangs" you want to avoid. After all, those people risk up to 14 years in prison under the present regime - what sort of punishment threat would you replace that with and how will it be policed?

“what a shame that after all these years the Lib Dems still miss the point - but watching how cannabis campaigners are reacting it seems that you will not be gaining so many votes.”

Lib Dems promise to legalise cannabis for everyone over 18

A regulated cannabis market for the UK

Stepping towards legalisation

The first step, for me, would be to convince the public, press and politicians and judges, of the INJUSTICE of punishing people for cultivation or possession for own use in their own homes if they had not put at risk or harmed others, their Rights or their property.

That is akin to something they may understand if it was mint instead of cannabis.

But that it is for own use, the invasion of private life and practice of personal beliefs is contrary to Human Rights law (whatever the activity is) UNLESS it is illegal AND (the important word) puts at risks or harms public health, public order, national security or the Rights of others.

In other words, unless those criteria are met, the bust itself is illegal.

To get that point across we need to show that whether the plant is mint or cannabis, the criteria is the same - the risk to others is the same = none.

The JUST APPLICATION of the law is essential.

So it's not even a case of whether it is legal to grow or illegal to grow - at home, in private and for own use - that is part of PRIVATE LIFE and chosen beliefs, lifestyles.

Beyond that we move to consumption in public, sharing and supply.

l argue that for those unable to grow their own, there will be  a market, either legal or illegal.

It seems obvious to me that a contained system of outlets that are licensed to protect consumer rights and health and safety with tax on profits is preferable than a free-for-all on the street where there are no age restrictions, no guarantee of quality or purity, no accurate indication of strength and possible associated with crime and other drugs.

Economically the benefit is a massive drop in cost of policing and courts, freeing up billions annually plus the VAT and tax on commercial profits

Leave the Government to start adding its own tax and no need to push for it.

In the ideal, cannabis should be available free of charge to all in need through their doctor's prescriptions - it's just a plant and its use would save the NHS many billions.

Poll: Should Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan be growing cannabis?

Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan, deputy for Roscommon-South Leitrim, is already making his mark by saying that he illegally grows a cannabis plant for his own consumption. He told Fiona Hynes in The Star today that he grows his own so that he doesn’t support the violent drugs trade.

What do you think of Flanagan’s open admission? Should he be growing his own cannabis and smoking it?