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Cannabis - mitigating factor for any crime?
12-3-`07 | PR-USA.net

A Cardiff man has been sent to prison after knifing a close friend in the chest. Marcus Badillo had known his victim, James Parker, (28), for more than a decade. But for reasons known only to himself, on August 8th 2007 he stabbed Parker in the chest with a five inch blade, missing vital organs such as the heart and lungs, 'more by luck than judgement.'

Under the instructions of Cardiff Crown Court-Judge Patrick Curran QC, Badillo was sentenced to at least three years in the name of public protection.

He will only be released when a parole board deems him "no longer a danger to the public".

As part of his defense Badillo told the court he was a long term cannabis user, which apparently had exacerbated his "mental instability", although no medical evidence was offered up by the prosecuting council to back up these claims.

So it seems that for absolutely any crime committed, using cannabis is deemed the "aggravating" factor in many instances, and with no medical evidence needed in many instances it seems like an ideal and easy angle for the prosecution to guarantee a guilty verdict.

But a closer look at this situation reveals a judiciary who are all to keen to jump on the cannabis bandwagon, blaming anything and everything on the fact the defendant has a history of cannabis use, and this shows a distinct lack of parity with the rest of the judicial system.

Only last week, Judge Bray commented in a different case, "This Government should never have reduced cannabis from a class B to a class C drug. This sends out completely the wrong message to drug users in this country."

"Cannabis is not just a harmless recreational drug. Recent research has confirmed it is a drug which can contribute substantially, particularly in its modern forms, to mental illness."

Which is simply a law court judge repeating "parrot fashion", the UK government's line on cannabis, and not actually adding anything constructive to the debate.

Today, in 2007, evidence which disproves this mental health theory, created by doctors, by toxicoligists and by psychiatrists, is widely available so perhaps the judiciary should stick with what they know?

The fact is, lawyers and judges are all to ready to accept cannabis use as the mitigating factor, often using the fact as the "primary cause" for finding a defendant guilty, no matter what the crime committed.

In this day and age that leaves the judicial system flawed and unable to serve just and fair sentences to criminals convicted of their crimes against society.

More evidence, if it were ever needed, that the UK judicial system is due a complete 'judicial review'.

An overhaul, in how it deals with cannabis, and its many millions of users in the United Kingdom.

__________________
SWP



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