SHERIDAN IN DEMO FOR LEGAL CANNABIS

More than 100 people flocked to a pro-cannabis demo in Glasgow city
centre yesterday. The Bring Your Own Joints event kicked off in George
Square. The participants then marched towards Kelvingrove Park in the
west end of the city. The event, dubbed a Mass Smoke-In, was organised
by the Scottish Socialist Youth (SSY) group to allow young people to
express their views on current drug laws in the country.

Strathclyde Police said the event passed off peacefully, without any
arrests. The young people, mostly in their teens or early 20s,
gathered in George Square, where Scottish Socialist Party leader Tommy
Sheridan addressed the crowd. Several members of the crowd were openly
smoking cannabis joints, which police confiscated, organiser Donnie
Nicolson said.

The gathering then left George Square around 2.30pm to march through
the city centre streets towards the west end.

The marchers, accompanied by music from samba band Diablo Bateria,
took around 90 minutes to complete their route through Queen Street,
Argyle Street, St Vincent Street and Charing Cross.

The crowd was joined by more supporters as it made its way through the
city centre. When they arrived at Kelvingrove Park, near Park Circus,
the protesters were addressed by Nicolson and other local supporters
of the campaign. The SSY is eager to see the decriminalisation of
cannabis, as opposed to the recent down grading of the drug to Class C
status.

Speaking before the event, Nicolson said: "Despite the Home
Secretary's recent 'downgrading' of cannabis, with the muddled new
police guidelines, very little has changed.

"Control of cannabis ultimately remains in the hands of black-market
dealers, and young people continue to be criminalised."