POT LUCK

Is it a good idea to give judges background information about the
customs, beliefs and cultures of minorities within our society?

As a new edition of the Equal Treatment Bench Book from the Lord
Chancellor's Department sees it, "a multi-faith, multi-cultural,
multi-racial society makes special demands on its judges". Not every
judge views it in that light.

Judge Henry Pownall marked his retirement from the Old Bailey
yesterday by deploring "political correctness in all its horrid forms
creeping into our everyday lives".

One particular passage in the Bench book has been singled out for
remark. "Smoking cannabis or ganja (`the herb')," it runs, "is
considered an important part of Rastafarian religious practice and is
treated as a sacrament. Ganja is seen as natural and as God's gift,
and Rastafarians seek to legitimise its use by reference to biblical
texts." That leaves it open to any judge to deal leniently with
Rastafarians brought to court for possessing, using or trading in cannabis.

Does this amount to a double standard?

It strikes us as sailing close to the wind. For there are others, not
Rastafarians, convinced that cannabis possesses properties which
relieve certain physical ailments.

There has been a plea for doctors to be allowed to prescribe cannabis
in certain circumstances. Then again, whether or not cannabis should
be decriminalised has become a controversial issue.

Tempers rise high on the subject.

That makes it dangerous ground on which to single out any element of
society for preferential treatment.

The larger question, to our mind, is whether this well-intentioned
guidance will in the long run sweeten race relations.

Human nature being what it is, we doubt it. To the individual brought
to book on a cannabis charge it will smack of rank injustice. That is
the flaw.