Cannabis marchers to test law with dope sandwiches

THE former drugs smuggler Howard Marks is to test a loophole in cannabis laws this weekend by offering himself for arrest for eating sandwiches made up of cultivated marijuana seeds.

In yesterday's Independent it was reported that police chiefs are urging the Home Office to bring in new laws banning the trade in cannabis seed and dope-growing equipment.

At present it is completely legal to buy, sell and possess cannabis hemp seeds but it is illegal to grow them.

The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) is lobbying the Home Secretary to close what they consider to be a serious legal loophole.

Mr Marks will make his move on Saturday, following the Independent on Sunday's decriminalise cannabis march and rally in Trafalgar Square. The plan to expose the inconsistency of the present law is the brainchild of a Glastonbury- based drug campaigner who has changed his name from Robert Christopher to Free Rob Cannabis.

Mr Cannabis has been in contact with the Home Office Action Against Drugs Unit and ascertained that in their view the sprouting of cannabis seeds is deemed to be cultivation and therefore against the law.

"After Saturday's march Howard Marks is to join me at Charing Cross Police Station where we will offer ourselves for arrest for the crime of distribution and possession of 'sprouted hempseed' sandwiches", said Mr Cannabis whose Free Medical Marijuana Foundation distributes cannabis by post to those who self-administer the drug to alleviate medical ailments.

"According to the Home Office we will be in breach of the law despite the fact that sprouting hempseed is one of the most nutritiously balanced food sources known to man. The food is also entirely drug free, containing no THC [the psychoactive ingredient of cannabis] whatsoever", said Mr Cannabis.

Howard Marks, who served eight years in an American prison for cannabis trading in the 1980s and is now a best- selling author, deplores the ACPO proposals.

"It seems that the police are determined to pull in the wrong direction, despite the obvious recent changes in public attitudes. Banning the sale of seed will not make any difference to the overall quantity consumed it will just drive the trade further underground", he said.

n For more information on Saturday's march call 0181-964-2692.