WHY THE LAW IS AN ASS

The Alice in Wonderland world of cannabis law enforcement produced two very
different responses from judges in court last week, writes Tarquin Cooper.
Last Wednesday an Old Bailey judge claimed cannabis was responsible for
turning a man into a rapist. He said there was little other explanation for
him committing the offence other than his addiction to the drug.

Judge Michael Coombe said it was "likely" that "the large amount of hashish
taken by the defendent contributed to his offence. "There is no doubt in my
mind that a great deal of the explanation lies in his indulgence of this
dangerous and prohibited drug," he said.

He explained that the defendent, Lee Robinson, was not considered dangerous
and had no previous convictions. Earlier the court was told how Robinson,
from Walthamstow, East London, had mixed the hash with the antidepressant
Prozac before raping a 23 yearold graduate in Wanstead, East London.
Robinson, a timber yard labourer, pleaded guilty to rape and was sentenced
to eight years in prison

On the same day in Sheffield, a judge showed clemency towards a man
convicted of cultivating cannabis because his wife suffers from terrible
back pain caused by MS. It is one of the rare occasions where using
cannabis for medical reasons has been successfully used to provide
mitigating circumstances.

Instead of handing down a 12month prison sentence, the usual term, judge
Robert Bartfield fined the defendent John McShane, 41, £1000 and ordered
him to pay £250 costs.

He told him: "It would be inhumane to send you to prison. Your wife suffers
from a wasting disease and you did this in your desire to alleviate her
suffering."

The judge explained that in normal circumstances, if the defendent had been
selling cannabis professionally, he would have had no hesitation in handing
down a custodial sentence for at least a year.