A COURAGEOUS MAN HAS BEEN PERSECUTED

I WAS shocked to read (Evening News, August 9) about the conviction of John
Crome for the possession and cultivation of cannabis.

In 1999, John stood as a candidate in Norwich City Council elections
representing the Legalise Cannabis Alliance Party.

I helped distribute his election leaflets in the ward where he stood.

He received 78 votes, which was more than five per cent of the votes cast.

His election literature explained about his medical condition and why
cannabis was crucial to his medication.

I remember thinking at the time how courageous this man was to have
publicly stated the case for something he believed in, knowing the risk he
was taking.

I see from the report that he has paid the price.

This is an instance of the police and the judiciary persecuting someone in
a serious medical condition for taking the initiative regarding their own
treatment.

An item in the Evening News a week earlier reported that the High Court in
Canada has ruled that criminalising people for medical use of cannabis is
unconstitutional and has given the Canadian Parliament a year to change the
law regarding cannabis.

Thank heaven a judiciary somewhere is seeing sense on this issue at last.

Paul Livingstone
Peacock Street
Norwich