cannabisnews.com: Bill To Legalise Cannabis Goes Up in Smoke 





Bill To Legalise Cannabis Goes Up in Smoke 
Posted by FoM on October 26, 2001 at 23:08:39 PT
By Greg Hurst, Parliamentary Correspondent
Source: Times UK
An attempt by a Labour MP to legalise the personal use of cannabis failed yesterday as his Private Member’s Bill was talked out in the Commons. Jon Owen Jones (Lab, Cardiff Central) published his Bill before this week’s announcement by David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, that possession of cannabis will no longer be an arrestable offence. Mr Jones, a former Welsh Office Minister, tried to go further, saying that the cultivation of cannabis should be lawful for recreational and medicinal use. 
He advocated licensing systems for the importation of cannabis and its commercial cultivation. The MP said: “All over the developed world — with the exception of Sweden and the American Federal Government — governments are slowly taking incremental steps that can only result in full legalisation. I confidently believe that cannabis will one day be legalised.” Mr Jones joked that the Palace of Westminster might one day have a cannabis coffee shop, like those in Amsterdam, running alongside its late-night bars and cigarette machines. The MP described the plight of a constituent diagnosed with haemophilia at birth who had been contaminated by blood transfusions with HIV, hepatitis C and possibly vCJD, and smoked cannabis to dull the pain and help him to sleep. “However hard I have looked, I cannot find any justice or any rationality in the state’s treatment of this man and I am glad that the Home Secretary has acknowledged that,” he said. The illegal trade in cannabis, estimated at £1.5 billion a year, simply financed organised crime and brought youngsters into contact with suppliers of hard drugs, Mr Jones said. The former Sports Minister Tony Banks supported the Bill. He said that he had never tried cannabis but that he believed in personal freedom. Andrew Rosindell (C, Romford) opposed it, declaring: “To legalise is to legitimise and to legitimise is to encourage.” The Bill ran out of parliamentary time and goes to the back of the queue for backbench legislation, rendering further progress unlikely. Newshawk: puff_tuffSource: Times, The (UK)Author: Greg Hurst, Parliamentary CorrespondentPublished: Saturday, October 27, 2001Copyright: 2001 Times Newspapers LtdContact: letters the-times.co.ukWebsite: http://www.thetimes.co.uk/Related Articles:David Blunkett - An Authoritarian Inhaleshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11200.shtmlCampaigners Applaud Cannabis Reform http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11177.shtml
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Comment #3 posted by MikeEEEEE on October 27, 2001 at 08:16:21 PT
Freedom is a slow process
I found this most interesting.governments are slowly taking incremental steps that can only result in full legalisation. I confidently believe that cannabis will one day be legalised.”
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Comment #2 posted by dddd on October 27, 2001 at 05:27:40 PT
like someone posted recently..
..that they would veto it at the last minute........it seems rather clear,that the British government,joins the Canadians in the mandatory brown-noseing of "der US drug laws".............hope that didnt sound wierd or too harsh...dddd 
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Comment #1 posted by JR Bob Dobbs on October 27, 2001 at 05:03:48 PT
Upper-class twit
>>Andrew Rosindell (C, Romford) opposed it, declaring: “To legalise is to legitimise and to legitimise is to encourage.”  Thus, everything we do not encourage should be illegal. I don't encourage stupidity - how do I get a warrant issued for the honorable member from Romford?
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