CITY MP BACKS CANNABIS CAFE IDEA

A Norwich MP is backing legislation which would allow cannabis to be smoked
in licensed cafes in the city.

Dr Ian Gibson, for Norwich North, is one of the sponsors of Cardiff MP Jon
Owen Jones's Legalisation of Cannabis Bill which is due to be debated in
the House of Commons next Friday.

"I think East Anglian farmers should be allowed to grow cannabis," Dr
Gibson said. "We could have bumper crops and that would help their
financial recovery."

He also believes that "as in Holland", people should also be allowed to buy
and smoke the drug in "cannabis cafes" and other authorised premises,
including off-licences.

"I am sure Norfolk people are already going over to Holland to try it
out,"Dr Gibson said.

Asked why he was supporting the Bill, he replied: "Why not?"

He said there was no evidence that cannabis led to hard drugs, and
decriminalisation "would take a lot of people peddling drugs out of the
market."

The therapeutic use of cannabis in treating patients was also
"well-established", he added.

In launching his Bill, Mr Jones said the measure would "remove criminals
from the equation" and could provide a "hardy cash crop" for British
farmers left on their knees by foot-and-mouth disease, BSE, tumbling dairy
prices and concerns over GM crops.

His legislation is unlikely to become law because of its low place in the
list of Private Members' Bills, but it comes after a noticeable shift in
public attitudes to the drug.