Peter Reynolds v Alun Buffry Court Case Settled

Peter Reynolds v Alun Buffry Court Case Settled

SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT

Between

Peter John Reynolds of ...................................................................

and

Alun Buffry of …..............................................................................

1. Peter Reynolds is pursuing a claim for defamation against Alun Buffry in the High Court, claim no. HQ13D01104 against which Alun Buffry has submitted a Defence.

2. The parties agree jointly to discontinue this action and to bear their own costs subject to the terms set out below.

3. Each party agrees that they shall not by themselves, their servants, agents or otherwise, abuse, harass, criticise or otherwise comment on the other with regard to their respective private lives. Neither party shall be restricted in any way from commenting on the political and campaigning activities of the other.

4. Each party agrees that they will not instigate fresh legal proceedings against the other over any words published prior to this Agreement

5. The parties agree that this settlement agreement may be published within seven days of its completion and publication shall consist only of the words of the agreement with private addresses excluded under the heading “Peter Reynolds v Alun Buffry Court Case Settled” . Thereafter the matter is at an end and each party agrees neither by themselves, their servants, agents or otherwise to make any public statement about this agreement or the proceedings to which it relates.

Agreed and signed by the parties:

Peter John Reynolds  Date: 25^th October 2013

Alun Buffry   Date: 26^th October 2013

Cannabis users deserve protection not punishment, unless they harm others

How can it be fair to threaten punishment of victimless cannabis users because some people that have used it have said they have had problems or have committed other crimes?

If that logic is applied generally, considering the problems cause by some people that drink alcohol, then it also should be illegal and all drinkers would face prosecutions. Drivers too!

Cannabis users, like anyone else, should be punished if they harm others or break other laws - otherwise they deserve the same level of protection in law as people that drink - protection from drug dealers, protection from bad quality, credible point-of-sale advice, and profits on commercial cultivation and sale should be taxed.

If the idea is to reduce cannabis use, then clearly with many millions in the UK admitting to use, many times more than in 1971 the the Misuse of Drugs Act was introduced, the law has totally failed - all it has done is criminalised so many that had actually done no harm.

And whilst the numbers of users has increased so many times over the last 40 years, the incidence of mental illness has not - so there is little connection there.

And in any case those that suffer need doctors, not police, courts and lawyers.

Our RIGHT to practice our own beliefs, alone or in the company of others

Sadhu's, Jains and others that use cannabis for "religious" reasons have been exempted from prosecution of possession for many years, I believe, due to Human Rights Articles - but the Indian Government limits that exception to religions that it accepts, whereas Human rights says "Every person can choose their own religion or BELIEF"

Almost every Government in the world is acting illegally when they prosecute any person that believes that cannabis is beneficial to them unless they can show that a ban is in the interests of public health, public order or national security, or the Rights of others.

WE are allowed to practice our belief alone or in the companies of others - that is a RIGHT that cannot legally be taken away.


THIS UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/

Article 18.

• Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

Article 30.

• Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.

SO WHY ARE OUR RIGHTS CONTRAVENED BY THE UK AND OTHER GOVERNMENTS WITHOUT GOOD REASON?

http://www.ccguide.org/lca/challengeintro.php

Report from Norwich Smokey Bear's Picnic

It was just two weeks notice but when the idea was posted on Facebook

some of us jumped to action. As well as spreading word through social media, I told the two local papers, the Norwich Evening News and the EDP and Radio Norfolk.

Within a few days, I had a letter through my letterbox asking me to urgently phone the police. So I phoned them and agreed for them to visit my house within an hour.

Two chief constables turned up an sat in my kitchen for almost an hour reading out a series of questions they had prepared.

"Are you the organiser?" one asked.

"No," I said, "I am a publisher, I publish events and news."

"Well if you publish it you are the organiser."

"Oh, if that's the case, I should be getting paid because I published the Leonard Cohen tour too - but I did not organise it!"

Other questions were "how many do you expect to turn up?"

"I don't know, I am not an organiser"

"Will you be having marshals?"

"I don't know, I am not an organiser. I keep telling you that."

"What about young people or children?"

""I don't know, I am not an organiser. But I think young people will be asked to stay away from anyone smoking, and children are the responsibility of parents and police, we can hardly drag them away!"

"Will you be smoking cannabis"

"Personally, you won't see me smoking anything and what other people do is their choice, they all know they could be arrested. Anyway, people smoke cannabis in parks in Norwich every sunny day, don't they?"

Yes," said the Constable, "but will they be smoking in your picnic?" "I don't know, I am not an organiser"

"What if somebody thinks, these people may have some drugs or cash and tries to rob people on their way into the park?" he asked.

"Well that would be up to the police to handle and I would call you.

Otherwise I would probably give him my money, I don't carry a lot"

"yes, I would too," he said.

With that they said they did not want the picnic to go ahead.

"I am not surprised," I said, "I guess police don't want any demonstrations or protests unless it's their own!"

"Have you got permission from the Council?" he asked.

"I don't need permission to have a picnic in the park and in any case, I am not an organiser; and if somebody did ask for permission, the Council would say no."

"Do you have public liability insurance?"

"Me, no. For a picnic? I don't know, I am not an organiser".

Two days later there were articles in the local press, one headed "Police want picnic nipped in the bud!"

I told the police that I would go on Facebook and suggest we get some hi-vis jackets and marshals in case thousands turned up, but I expected 50 to 100, based on the picnics we had attended in Chapelfield Gardens ten years or so ago; that we would deal with our own litter and if there was any trouble we would call the police.

When they day came, I went down to the Park expecting to be searched on the way in, but was approached by two bobbies who asked if I was the organiser!

"I am not the organiser, I am just a publisher"

"How many do you expect to turn up?"

"I don't know, I am not an organiser"

"The lady PC asked "Will people be taking drugs?"

"I don't know, I am not an organiser. People may smoke tobacco or cannabis, they know the risk, some are quite prepared to be arrested.!"

"but this is a public park with children and families."

"I know that, I am a member of the public, we all are. Tell us where else to go and we can think about it. You have to do your job and we have to protest."

Then I was approached by Radio Norfolk: "Are you the organiser?"

"No I am not, there is no organiser. It is an idea - let's have a picnic and then people invite friends".

The interview lasted about half an hour and then they took some quotes from a few others, Tina Girling, Don Barnard, Chris Philbin, Kevin Deadman ... on Monday morning many of us were heard on the early morning radio show.

Interviews with the local rags went much the same way and we saw two quite good articles on Monday Morning. You can read the press at http://www.ccguide.org/news/default.php.

The day went quietly, the only trouble was when police told Don, our liaison officer, that they could smell "skunk" by the park gates (a couple of hundred yards away)

Police pulled a couple of peopl from the group nearest them and did some pocket searches that produced nothing, whilst we just sat on the grass on the grass!

Several amongst us just wandered across the park for a toke and a cup of tea, and several smaller groups were spotted picnicking and toking around the park.

I felt like a decoy, a member of the public eating crisps and drinking orange juice, whilst around the park, across the city, county, country and world, people were peacefully toking as normal.

I wrote a letter to the press, which was published under a heading "The Big debate: Should Cannabis Users Be Given Somewhere Safe to Smoke?" - in it I said that we wanted the Council to ask the Government to allow them a temporary license where we could go and safely smoke and associate without fear of arrest and away from people that did not want to inhale the smoke.

Until then, we would continue to picnic in the parks.

With the estimated 2 dozen police earning double or more money on a Sunday, how much did that all cost?

Multiply that by 8 or 9 times next year, multiply that by ALL the other picnics and protests across the country - it will cost the taxpayer millions.

Solution: GIVE US SOMEWHERE SAFE TO GO, LEAVE US ALONE UNLESS WE CALL THE POLICE IN

Personally I felt the day was a success with good publicity for the cause, and everybody seems to have had a good day. And it was sunny!Thanks to Kevin Bear, Don Bearnard, Jack Koala Bear and all the Bushbabies.

Letter: Time to look at a new approach.  

Letter: Alcohol is the Bigger Problem 

Letter: Special Picnic Made its Point 

Cannabis campaigners hold protest event in Chapelfield Gardens in Norwich 

Police want drugs demo group to scrap protest    

PUNISHING ADULTS BECASUE OF WHAT KIDS MAY DO DOES NOT MAKE SENSE

BBC 2's ! "America's Stoned Kids" with addiction expert John Marsden was as disappointing as his previous documentaries on cannabis - pretty one-sided, he focussed more on one or two teenagers (called kids) and the risk that he put at one in four would carry on using cannabis which he calls dependency.

After showing the availability of medicinal cannabis he twisted it to show how readily available cannabis is to teenagers (as it is in most places where there is no medical availabilty).

Marsden tried to use the scare-mongering idea that if cannabis is avaialble legally to adults, more "kids" would become addicted and then used that to oppose legalisation - he completely ignored the pain and suffering cause by prohibition and unjust punishment.

How can he try to justify punishing victimless and medicinal users, argue against legal controlled commercial supply and cultivation of one's own cannabis because "kids" risk their health and safety?

Because the argument that adults should be punished or put at risk - forced to deal with ciminal suppliers or break the law by cultivating the plant because of what the kids do - if followed as a principle upon which to base laws, then adults would be banned from doing anything that could be harmful to young people. Drinking, driving, ....

It's obvious to me that both kids and aults are at greater risk if they are left at the mercy of less-than-scrupulous and criminal drug dealing profiteers than they would be at risk of a regulated supply system with quality control, credible point-of-sale advice, hygiene, age restrictions and tax on profits.

As for the closing sequence in which John Marsden shows cannabis cookies and sweets - an alternative was to smoking cannabis - and complains that they may be attractive to the kids so ought not be allowed - that sort of logic made nonsense of the whole show,

Cannabis Protests - should they smoke in public?

This morning I listened to an excellent interview with Clark French of NORML UK and the Berkshire Cannabis Community, on BBC Radio Berkshire. 

I think Clark did an excellent interview and made some powerful points.(listen here - about 2 hours and 5 mins from the start - move the slder pop up below the video)  http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01cwt0mClark also stepped up to the line by putting himself at risk, to some extent, by admitting his use of cannabis to ease his suffering from MS.

But Clark went further than that by announcing a public protest  see https://www.facebook.com/events/593588457357865/?fref=ts  on Sept 7th in Reading, UK.

Personally I congradulate Clark and hope that many people will turn up to support the gathering - of course some cannot or will not, especially if police are going to be there.  On rthe other hand others want apolice and press presence.

Regarding publicity for the gatherings, well it depends on the purpose of the gathering - whether to simply meet up and have a smoke (which may best be done in a more private venue) OR to openly defy and challenge the law or BOTH

.In the past most Smokey Bear Picnics, protests, marches etc included public toking, often in the presence of the, thousands marching through London, cannabis festivals, gatherings in Trafalgar Square, and many smaller gatherings in the open in places like Southsea, Hull, Norwich, Chemslford ... I remember in Southsea one year there would be police arrested a few smokers; the next there would be no arrests, then there would be arrests the year after.  The authorities just did not know what to do.

 In Norwich in a central park we sat on the grass and toked, and police just walked pst, about 70 t0 100 of us.  Even after it was on the front page of the local press in advance, police did nothing.  We caused no problems.

Some people may think it depends on numbers prseent at the event - the more there are the less police presence.

 But history does not suggest that - and think about how many police would turn up if there were an equivalent number of alcohol drinkers.

Then there were turn-yourself-in days (I would never do that because I did not feel I had anything to turn-myself in for). 

In London Free Rob Cannabis and Howard Marks, just the two of them, tried to turn themselves in.  One year they were locked out of the police station.  In Norwich Lewi Rodrigues tried to turn himself in but they would not take him to court.

When THC4MS was busted, over 75 people in the old LCA signed statements saying that if THC4MS were guilty of conspiracy to supply, then so were we, sent it to the Carlisle police and press.  Nothing happened.  THC4MS three were given suspended sntences for supplying 36,000 bars of cannabis chocolate through the post without profit.

When Pinky started his protests, he was worried out people getting busted, so he wanted toking to be discreet - trouble was that so few  protestsersturned up.I do understand that those that grow or have jobs or family circumatsnaces that they want to protect, refrain from such open and public chllenges to the law, but I also greatly ADMIRE those that are prepared to try to defeat prohibition in this way - arrests for small amounts, court cases, all cost money - a waste of taxpayers money, and even without any change in law we can use that to push for greater tolerance - where there is no threat or not harm there should be no such arrests.

Each to his or her own - so long as we each put in some effort in some way, I think the battle can be on many fronts.

http://www.ccguide.org/lca/activities.php

http://www.ccguide.org/events.php

Swaziland: Dagga can take us to First World

This article makes sense - consider the many uses of cannabis - medicinal and industrial as well as as a relatively safe relaxant compared with alcohol - consider the pollution that is being unnecessarily caused through the production of synthetic alternatives and the damage done by the side effects of so many prescribed medicines - consider the number of victimless cannabis users and small scale growers unnecessarily and unjustifiably punished and the costs of prohibition - and one is forced to ask why the prohibition.

Consider the massive profits made by and the strangle-hold held over people by the massive petrochemical and pharmaceutical companies that produce those alternatives - and we can see why.

It is time that those Governments of the world that are genuinely concerned with people above profits make the brave move of ending this cannabis prohibition.

http://www.times.co.sz/letters/88910-dagga-can-take-us-to-first-world.html

Swaziland: Dagga can take us to First World

Thula T Dlamini
Times of Swaziland

Sunday 30 Jun 2013



Sir,

Please publish my humble opinion on how Swaziland can achieve first world status.

THE LAW
COMETH FROM GOD

‘Choosing the Holy Bible over money’ is my basic understanding of King Somhlolo’s vision - choosing God through Jesus Christ.
This is also the Gospel of Jesus Christ. According to the Gospel of Matthew 6:24 & 33, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mam’-mon.”


“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”
Swazis should, therefore, admit that if King Somhlolo’s vision is true, then they were given the Holy Bible as the Supreme Law and guide for living.
This covers all aspects of life; religion, politics, morality, ethics, governance, health, science, economics, social behaviour, etc.
If a Constitution is the Supreme Law of a country, then emaSwati were given that Law by God. It is the Holy Bible.


If we say the Holy Bible is lacking is some aspect necessary for living this life, then we would be in conflict with the same Bible that categorically states that we should not add or delete from it. We may not amend it as is done with men’s imperfect constitutions.
God is perfect therefore His Law is perfect. Man is imperfect, therefore his law is imperfect.
Trust in god - mvelinchanti.

THE PROMISED LAND

When God freed the children of Israel from bondage he promised them land. Everything comes from the land; food, clothing, wealth. Every thing necessary for our physical being comes from the land.
In Swaziland, 80 per cent of the land is owned by foreigners or are farms and only 20 per cent is Swazi Nation Land. Without land, emaSwati cannot be empowered to get to first World status.


To address this anomaly Swaziland should return the ‘stolen’ land to Swazis. This may be achieved through the systematic buying of the land or legislation if necessary.
The repossessed land should be distributed equitably through the ‘khonta’ system.

SWAZI GOLD IS GREEN

Marijuana, hemp, ganja, dagga, indofindofi, hash, insangu, umtfunti wetinkhunkhu, grass, weed or whatever name that cannabis goes by, is God’s creation.
To pass laws that seek to annihilate God’s creation is tantamount to condemning God. I believe that we may, however, regulate how it is used.
There are numerous varieties of apples, grass, beans, etc. This is the case with cannabis. The Kingdom of eSwatini is blessed with a very potent variety suitable for medicinal, industrial and recreational purposes.


It is in high demand…very, very high demand.
Currently, chemicals used to destroy cannabis pollute springs, streams, rivers and the environment.
Some people smoke ARVs, glue, petrol, benzene and get high; some go crazy.


Should these drugs be illegal? Some people shoot, hang from ropes or drink legal poisons to kill themselves.
The argument that marijuana drives some people crazy and therefore should be illegal does not hold water. The number of crazy people attributed to marijuana is just not true.


Of course, there is a movement trying to perpetuate the lies about cannabis. Swazis,wake up! This is your gold.
There are numerous beneficial uses of the cannabis plant. These include paper, textiles, oil, rope, canvas, building materials, food, medicine, paint, detergent, varnish, ink, and fuel.
Marijuana can provide superb relief for those who suffer from cancer, AIDS, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, chronic pain, arthritis, rheumatism, asthma, insomnia, and depression.


Cannabis is the standard fibre of the world. It has great tensile strength and durability.
It is used to produce more than 5 000 textile products, ranging from rope to fine laces, and the woody ‘hurds’ remaining after the fibre has been removed contain more than 77 per cent cellulose, which can be used to produce more than 25 000 products, ranging from dynamite to Cellophane.


Cannabis is an easy crop to grow and will yield from three to six tonnes per acre on any land. It has a short growing season, so that it can be planted after other crops are in.
The long roots penetrate and break the soil to leave it in perfect condition for next year’s crop. The dense shock of leaves, eight to 12 feet above the ground, chokes out weeds. Two successive crops are enough to reclaim land that had been abandoned because of foreign invasive plants.


There are many countries where the use of marijuana is legal. These include the following: Cambodia, Canada, Equador, Italy, Mexico, Jamaica (though not fully), Portugal, Romania, Spain and 14 of the 50 states of America, among others.
For the record I wish to state categorically that I am not advocating for the recreational use of cannabis. Instead, I am calling for the exploitation of its beneficial use in industry.


Ironically by declaring the whole plant illegal actually promotes it as a drug for recreational purposes and to a limited extent for medicinal purposes. While the cannabis plant is illegal you cannot set up factories to exploit it for industrial purposes but you can easily smoke a joint. In the minds of most people, that is all it is good for.


It is my strong belief that if cannabis were to be legalised, the number of recreational users in Swaziland would actually drop.
These include people who smoke out of despair because they are not able to meet their financial obligations, people who drown the sorrows of unemployment etc.


The leading cash crops in Swaziland are devastating the environment and are not sustainable. These include sugar cane, forestry and cotton. Huge tracts of land have been wiped clean of their natural flora and fauna because of sugar cane and in spite of this only a handful of Swazis have benefitted meaningfully.


Cotton requires large quantities of pesticides and herbicides – 50 per cent of the world’s pesticides/herbicides are used on cotton.
However, hemp requires no pesticides, no herbicides, and only moderate amounts of fertiliser.
There are numerous advantages of cannabis over trees, cotton and sugar cane as a cash crop and for industrial purposes; just too many to be stated here.


There is a huge legal market available for Swazi gold. Cannabis can be cultivated by everybody; including the elderly and people living with disabilities.
1 Plant = ±E300
Do the maths. Every Swazi could be financially independent within two years.
= 0% Unemployment
= 0% Poverty
= First World

There is a strong movement, worldwide, for the legalisation of cannabis. Join the Movement for the Legalisation of Marijuana (MoLeMa). Let us take a leading role to be ahead of the pack.
Also, for the record, I neither smoke nor drink.
You have the power – use it.

Thula T Dlamini
MBEKELWENI

http://www.times.co.sz/letters/88910-dagga-can-take-us-to-first-world.html

Women fighting for their lives after taking “contaminated” cannabis as Gardai issue warning

This is just one of the many reasons why the cultivation and sale of cannabis should be legalised.
This just does not happen when cannabis is available at controlled outlets such as Dutch Coffeeshops, Spanish, Belgian or other Cannabis Social Clubs (CSC's), US clinics, on prescription such as in the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Italy or even the Indian Government Hash shops.
It could only happen when commercial distribution is controlled by greedy crooks that want to boost their profits by adding dangerous substances - there have been stories of everything from boot polish and solvents to ground glass and ground up pills.

Women fighting for their lives after taking “contaminated” cannabis as Gardai issue warning
Irish Independent, May 30 2013

TWO women are fighting for their lives after taking “contaminated” cannabis.

The women, both in their 20s – one of whom is understood to be a mother – are in intensive care in hospital today.
Gardai have expressed concern that more drug users could be at risk from the same toxic batch of drugs.
The women, who do not know each other, presented separately to the same hospital in Drogheda. One 25-year-old is said to have “catastrophic” injuries and is suffering from multiple organ failure.
Last night gardai confirmed that two women from Louth are in a life-threatening condition after taking a drug. Both are in the intensive care unit of Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital.
The women are understood to have first taken ill on Monday night of this week.
One of the women has not regained consciousness since being brought into hospital and is on life support.
The second woman became seriously ill in the early hours of yesterday morning and “the symptoms are far too serious to have been caused by cannabis on its own,” said one source.
Gardai are desperately investigating the source of the cannabis – which may have been mixed with a synthetic drug – to establish if there is a bad batch of drugs currently on the streets of the North East.
Follow-up searches of two houses in Drogheda and mid-Louth resulted in some cannabis being seized which is being tested to identify what it contains. However it is believed that it can be difficult to detect synthetic drugs in these tests.
Last night Superintendent Gerry Smith, at Drogheda Garda Station, said: “We are concerned that other people who use cannabis may suffer the same effects.”

Irish Independent

10 Years for 10 grammes of cannabis in Ghana Shock.

How sad in this day when so many people are suffering at the hands of real and heavy criminals yet your country locks up a man for a small amount of plant material when it does not sound like he has harmed anyone. Reading the news and it seems that cannabis could actually be one of the most versatile and beneficial plants on earth and certainly not the dangerous narcotic Ugandan law seems to suggest.

 

Carpenter jailed 10 years for possessing cannabis
Ghana Business News

May 25 2013

A carpenter caught with 10.58 grammes of cannabis has been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in hard labour by the Juaso Circuit Court presided over by Mr. Alex Obeng Asante.

Kwadwo Yeboah was arrested by the Juaso Neighbourhood Watch Committee on December 5, last year, and pleaded guilty to the offence of possessing narcotic drugs.
Police Inspector Manasseh Obimpeh told the court that members of the committee were on routine patrol when they spotted the convict smoking what they suspected to be cannabis at about 0200 hours.
He said the members decided to confront him but on seeing them, Yeboah attempted to flee but was apprehended and a search conducted on him uncovered two wraps of dried leaves in his pocket and was handed over to the police together with the exhibit.
Police Inspector Obimpeh said a sample of the substance was sent to the Police Forensic Laboratory in Accra for examination and was confirmed to be cannabis.

 

Drugs ban teacher: Pot helped me to plan lessons .... You should have stuck with booze Mr Taylor

You should have stuck with booze Mr Taylor as I am sure so many of your fellow-teachers have done!

What a shame that you have been judged on what harmless victimless activities you choose for inspiration in your "free" time and not the quality of your lessons.

Mr Taylor, having been punished once already, by the courts, for breaking a nonsense and unjustifiable law, is being punished yet again.

It is about time this law was changed.

Drugs ban teacher: Pot helped me to plan lessons

Wigan Today
May 25 2013

A SCIENCE teacher rapped for growing cannabis has claimed smoking weed helped him create better lessons for his pupils.

Alan Taylor, who taught at Westleigh High, claimed Britain’s drugs policy is “immoral” and “corrupt”.
Taylor, from Atherton, was excluded from teaching for at least five years by a disciplinary panel after admitting he grew and consumed the drug at home.
Alan, who had been teaching science at Westleigh High School, was disciplined by the education authorities for the second time over his use of cannabis, after being sentenced to community work last March by Wigan magistrates,
However, Alan has now launched a robust defence of his personal lifestyle, saying that eating a cake or biscuit containing small quantities of cannabis is no different to drinking a glass of wine in the evening.
He also strongly criticised Government policy towards drugs, claiming it ignores scientific evidence and is based on protecting the interests of large businesses rather than safeguarding public health. Alan, 43, said: “It’s a matter of my private life and not something that should be discussed in public. Now that it’s been brought out I could go along with the party line, which would be a lie, or I can choose to tell the truth.
“My position and belief is for a policy based on rationality and evidence, which seems to me reasonable and consistent views for a science teacher to hold.
“The prohibition of drugs is a product of corrupt government. Cannabis has a lot of medicinal uses and I personally know people who’ve used it to treat conditions including epilepsy, cancer and diabetes, but it is made illegal because of big pharmaceutical companies lobbying the government.
“Cannabis has been used in medicine for about 10,000 years, and it’s only since the 1930s in America that it started being banned. The prohibition was based on racism, because it was primarily a relaxant of the black man, and also due to competition between ethanol made from hemp and oil. Cannabis was a threat both to the pharmaceutical industry and to the oil business.
“When I was teaching I found it helped me plan lessons. It sounds like a ‘60s stereotype but it produces what is called latent inhibition, which allows you to see a sense of wonder in things, and as a teacher you are trying to create that sense.”
Alan, who said he began taking cannabis around two decades ago, is also trying to debunk some of the negative social and health perceptions which surround the drug, comparing its effects to alcohol.
He said: “At the 2006 European football championships, when England played in Amsterdam they watered down the beer and opened up the coffee shops. The police praised the fans for how wonderfully they behaved.
“They then went to Belgium where they had access to a lot of strong alcohol and there were riots in the streets. That sums up the difference between cannabis and alcohol, for me.
“Statistics stress there has never been a single death from cannabis. There are thousands every year from alcohol.
“People often say cannabis makes you paranoid, but I’ve been to Holland and gone in the coffee shops and have experienced none whatsoever. In terms of addiction, there’s a greater risk through mixing cannabis with tobacco and smoking it.
“That can bring people into nicotine addiction, whereas I’ve never experienced any ill effects from eating cannabis and have gone for long periods without it.”
Alan is particularly scathing about current laws allowing criminal enterprises to control the supply of drugs on to the market, saying a regulated, legalised system would reduce the health effects of contaminated cannabis, make it easier to prevent young people getting their hands on drugs.
However, he does not want to become a public campaigner to change the law, hoping changing opinions on the street about substances such as cannabis will eventually make the present situation untenable.
He said: “Drugs have no place in the lives of children. No-one should be taking any substance until their brains are fully formed.
“At the moment all a young person needs to find out about cannabis is a £10 note, and that can’t be right. Seeking it out at the moment can also expose them to criminal elements, and possibly to other more dangerous substances.
“That’s why I grow cannabis myself, if I had gone out and bought it I would have been supporting organised crime.
“I just want to get on with my life, I would rather it hadn’t been interrupted by this. I would like to go back into teaching if I can.”
“I’ve lost my career because of the current policy, but people on harder drugs in Leigh have lost their lives, and this is minor in comparison.”