LAW MAKES NO DISTINCTION WHEN IT COMES TO CANNABIS

In His letter: I can't support this insanity (The Sentinel, December
27), Mr Cope concedes more than our Government on cannabis.

He wrote: "I have no problem with cannabis being used for medicinal
purposes to alleviate pain."

There is no distinction under the Misuse of Drugs Act between the
uses of cannabis, whether it is used by sick or injured people in an
attempt to feel better and relieve symptoms, or by others just to
feel better (get high), the possession of cannabis is still an offence.

As a retired policeman, I wonder how Mr Cope would have felt
arresting sick and suffering people who had done no harm to anyone,
under this unjust system. Maybe, just maybe, in some cases, he may
have done his job with some slight feeling that the law was wrong to
arrest people whom he may have deemed "medical users".

Maybe, like myself, he would have found it difficult to draw a line,
and would have seen that in all cases it is hard to support
punishment where the user has done no harm. Is it just, I ask, to
punish hundreds of thousands or people in order to protect the
minority of people vulnerable to cannabis use, especially when it is
quite clear that the law has done nothing to help them either?

Alun Buffry

Stoke-on-Trent