RASTAFARIANS 'COULD WIN CANNABIS RIGHTS'

Rastafarians have been invited by a judge to consider whether a High
Court challenge under the Human Rights Act might eventually allow them
to use and sell cannabis as part of their religious beliefs and
culture. Judge Charles Gibson suggested that the best the Rastafarians
could hope for was a declaration that British drug laws were
incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights.

Although that would not, in itself, allow them to use cannabis, "it
would pose a challenge to the Government to consider the future of the
Misuse of Drugs Act 1971". He added: "It would also provide grounds
for proceedings in the European Court of Human Rights."

The judge's comments came as he rejected an application by a
Rastafarian, who has admitted charges of possessing the drug and
intending to supply it, to change his pleas to not guilty. Inner
London Crown Court was told that Rasta Brown, 39, of Stockwell, south
London, had offered some "weed" to an undercover police officer.

But he maintained that both the use and the sale of marijuana were a
recognised part of Rastafarian culture and religion, which he claimed
was protected by the Human Rights Convention.

Brown will be sentenced next month.