GREEN POLITICIAN'S DRUG CONVICTION OVERTURNED

The Green Party's spokesman on drugs had his sentence for growing cannabis
overturned yesterday when a judge ruled that he had cultivated the plants
for medicinal use to treat his bad back.

Shane Collins, 41, was sentenced to six weeks in prison last month
following the discovery of 19 marijuana plants in the basement of his home
in Brixton, south London.

After winning his appeal at Inner London Crown Court, Mr Collins said: "I
feel very frustrated at having made six visits to court, spent five days in
prison and occupied eight police officers. It has been a huge waste of
public money over 19 little seeds.

"If people could grow their own cannabis they would not need to buy it on
the streets."

The court was told how Mr Collins, who has two previous convictions for
aggravated trespass and breach of the peace in connection with anti-road
building protests at Newbury and Twyford Down, was arrested in February
when police discovered fluorescent lighting, fans and the cannabis plants
in his home.

Ruth Brander, for the defence, told the court that only five of the plants
had been expected to reach maturity. She also said that smoking the drug
eased Mr Collins's back injury. She said: "Mr Collins has admitted to me he
does not smoke cannabis purely for medicinal purposes, but he does have a
bad back. He has a rotated vertebra for which he requires treatment."

Judge Philpot, sitting with two JPs, granted Mr Collins his appeal in the
light of the fact that he used the drug to ease his back problem and had no
previous drug-related convictions.

Jenny Jones, the Green Party Deputy Mayor of London, said: "The
circumstances of Shane's arrest sound like a dangerous U-turn in government
thinking on the issue of cannabis legal reform."

Mr Collins has been the party's drugs spokesman for six years.