After my touching discussion with Sadie I was introduced to "Dave", a representative of the UK Compassion Collective. A similar collective to Medical Monkies who supplied Sadie with potentially life saving cannabis oil free of charge.
When I asked Dave his motivation for giving away potentially thousands of pounds worth of cannabis oil, he responded simply,"we just want to help as many people as we can" a man of not so many words, the rhetoric was simple.grow cannabis and help people fight cancer. Is this man a dangerous criminal?
I asked Dave how long the collective had been operating to which he responded, "I've been growing for about 10 years now", by this point more protesters had begun to assemble and a few listening to our conversation gave a laugh and a cheer of approval to his response.
I asked Dave if he had ever been caught with cannabis, to which he explained he had not been caught yet but was prepared to"take one for the team" if required to do so.
I got the feeling the charges he would face would be more significant than a simple case of personal possession. It seemed like a high risk to take for something that was allegedly not financially motivated.
I asked Dave if he would fight any covictions publicly and he told me he would fight it as publicly as possible to draw attention to the issue under the repeal act of 1879.
Dave then said that "Basically the the law is nonsense" looking around and holding his hands out gesturing to the growing number of protestors openly using cannabis around us,he continued. "There are this many people breaking the law right now."
I can't be certain of the exact number of people who showed up on the day, but I would estimate that at the peak of the protest there were around 150 - 170 people who were all indeed openly using cannabis.
It was a very peaceful gathering, people were talking amongst themselves and sharing stories relating to the issue. One activist who caught my attention was 73 year old anti-prohibition campaign veteran Don Barnard who agreed to share his views on the demonstration.
A retired engineer Don is also the former press officer for the Legalise Cannabis Alliance, a de-registered UK political party which campaigns to end the prohibition of cannabis.
I asked Don how old he was the first time he smoked cannabis, he hesitated to respond, " a long time ago" he said with a youthful grin,then mentioning something about short term memory loss. I asked if this could be attributed to cannabis use. "No of course not",no hesitation this time.
Don says he uses cannabis first thing in the morning and is open with his cannabis use. He is is certainly a testament to the effects of long term use in the eyes of the pro cannabis community and claims to have faced little opposition with regards to his daily use, ever since an incident he described in 1998 in which "police in suits" searched his home and found cannabis used to treat "his wife's arthritis." He claims his cannabis use has since been tolerated.
I asked Don what he thought of the demonstration to which he responded,"in my personal opinion, the whole campaign has gone to pot" pun apparently intended, I wasn't convinced.
Don claimed to have been at the majority of the pro cannabis campaign events in the UK since 1973, also hosting awareness demonstrations himself, where hemp seeds and information leaflets were given to the public. He also appealed for political debate on the use of canabis to a number of political faculties over the years.
I couldn't help admiring Dons tenacity, after so many years campaigning for a legitimate debate on cannabis use here in the UK, one might be expected to feel disillusioned over the fact we have yet to even consider a public referendum on cannabis and despite the decades of slow progress towards legitimate discussion and law reform, there are many like Don who do not fit the profile of the stereotypical stoner and have been peacefully campaigning for years.
Given the evidence and testimony provided by pro cannabis supporters and given that we are supposed to be a leading example of western democracy, shouldn't the cannabis debate be put to a public forum?
We have all seen the headlines this week, a jaded look at a relatively unmoderated study. But why are popular media outlets so quick to dismiss the medical benefits of canabis and so eager to exaggerate the fears associated with it? Shouldn't the facts be displayed objectively so the public can draw their own reasonable conclusion?
It ocured to me that the dedicated campaigners of the pro cannabis cause were not the dangerous criminals certain reporters would have you believe them to be. To associate the act of aiding the fight against cancer with the behaviour of a heroin addict, is simply ludicrous.Interestingly enough, based on the response of the public, the wild exaggerations reported seem to have been widely rejected. Perhaps, finally, people are drawing their own reasonable conclusions based on less biased platforms of information.
In the final part of this article I hear the opinions of the Metropolitan Police, a drug dealer who is not involved with the pro cannabis community and who does not use cannabis and I also hear from the mental health professionals who use cannabis daily.
Please discuss your opinions in the comments, vote in the opinion poll at the top of the page and follow for more articles coming soon.
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