BRITAIN: MAN CLAIMS TO HAVE HANDED POT PLANT TO QUEEN

MANCHESTER -- Police said Friday that they plan to question a man who
claims to have given Queen Elizabeth II a bouquet containing a marijuana plant.

Colin Davies of the Medical Marijuana Cooperative, which is pushing for
legalization of the substance, said he handed the bouquet to the queen
during her whistle-stop visit Thursday to this north England city. She was
pictured receiving a bouquet from Davies outside an arts center.

"There were more important issues for our staff to be concerned with on
what was a highly successful day," said Detective Chief Inspector David
Booth, head of Greater Manchester Police Special Branch. "However,
arrangements will now be made to speak to Mr. Davies about his claims."

Buckingham Palace said Friday that the queen did not bring the bouquet back
to London.

Bouquets handed to the queen during royal engagements are routinely
distributed to hospitals or old people's homes.

Davies, 43, said he grew the marijuana plant himself.

"It was a harmless way of trying to bring to the notice of Her Majesty the
ludicrous restrictions on cannabis," he said. "We set up the cooperative to
supply sick people who benefit from the therapeutic value of cannabis."