Hashishi

Council plug for cannabis event
6/19/07 | The Birmingham Post | by Ben Goldby

A pro-cannabis protest which could see up to a hundred people smoking drugs in a Birmingham park this weekend has been advertised on Birmingham City Council's website.

Campaigners say they are planning to "smoke out" laws banning the drug - but the website notice was removed by embarrassed council officials after they were alerted by The Birmingham Post.

The What's On page of the council's website had shown a listing for the "Healing of the Nations Smokey Bears Picnic" which will be held on Sunday in Cannon Hill Park, at around 1pm. The event was described on the site as "local and national like-minded people meeting to share food and communicate with each other".

Cannabis users from all over the UK have been invited to the park for a picnic protest to call for the legalisation of the drug. Smokey Bear is an alias traditionally used by campaigners to organise mass demonstrations to flout laws by smoking cannabis in public.

Colin Preece, the Legalise Cannabis Alliance (LCA) spokesperson for the environment, said: "I am led to understand that Smokey Bear has invited like minded people to join him there to smoke out a bad law.

"I admit I submitted it to the What's on Page, but it's this character called Smokey Bear that's been spreading the event on the Internet within cannabis group communities.

"I called it the Healing of the Nations picnic because of the importance of the healing part of the blessed God-given herb.

"All I did was put the information there for the public to see."

A council spokeswoman said: "We do not consider this unauthorised gathering to be an appropriate use of a public park and have not agreed for it to take place at Cannon Hill.

"The listing was submitted to our web team and was added to the site before it became apparent what it was and it has now been removed. If anyone is caught breaking the law then it will be a police matter."

West Midlands Police confirmed that they were aware of Sunday's gathering. A spokeswoman said: "Anyone caught in possession of cannabis will face the possibility of arrest in accordance with the law."

Don Barnard, a campaigner with the LCA, said the organisation had to create controversy in order to make an impact on government policy.

"From our point of view we understand that some of our members will be getting involved on Sunday," he said. "It is not the first such protest, but this year they are expecting a lot of support. This event is important in raising awareness of our cause."

Local councillors were quick to condemn the Cannon Hill park picnic.

Coun Martin Mullaney (Lib Dem Moseley) said: "I get this every year. They say they are going to have a mass demonstration, there is a big hullabaloo and they end up not being able to get out of bed."

[Well then it begs the question, if this event is annual, how it slipped past councilors and onto the website? Sour grapes, methinks. -Hash]

Coun Deidre Alden (Con Edgbaston) said: "I am firmly against legalisation of cannabis and believe it can lead to the use of harder drugs and cause mental health problems. A protest like this will not have any impact on the law."