CANNABIS MAN JOINS THE POLL

A CANNABIS smoker with a criminal record for cultivating cannabis plants is
to stand as a candidate in the Romsey by-election.

Derrick Large, 40, a pipe-fitter from Kings Somborne, is running as a
candidate for the Legalise Cannabis Alliance which was registered as a
political party ahead of the European elections last year.

Its emblem, which will appear on the ballot paper, is a cannabis leaf. Mr
Large said he smoked cannabis for medical purposes and had done so for 20
years.

He said: "Cannabis culture has arrived in Britain, and is now as integral
part of our society, which won't disappear, despite, or because of, legal
sanctions."

Mr Large, who grew up in Chandler's Ford, spent many years working at
Fawley Oil Refinery. The Legalise Cannabis Alliance contested five seats in
Norwich last year and entered a candidate in the Kensington and Chelsea
by-election. Howard Marks, convicted cannabis smuggler, stood as a legalise
cannabis candidate in the general election in 1997 in Southampton Test.