More MS news articles for March 2003

Mr. Cannabis jailed - during pot auction

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/custom/fringe/sfl-310pot,0,4281790.story?coll=sfla-news-fringe

March 10 2003, 12:58 PM EST
Reuters
London

A British cannabis campaigner who changed his name to Free R Cannabis was jailed for two months for auctioning the drug at a demonstration.

Cannabis, 33, previously known as Robert Christopher, openly sold the drug using a microphone in London's Hyde Park at a march to press for the drug's legalization in September 2001, authorities said.

"You are not prepared to tolerate any contrary opinion," recorder John Bevan told him on Friday.

"I suspect your mind is closed to any view other than your own," Bevan added, saying he realized the judgment turned Cannabis into a martyr for his cause. Cannabis has devoted his life to campaigning for the legalization of the drug after his mother died of multiple sclerosis. He says cannabis would have prolonged her life and eased her pain.

"The cannabis plant could have saved my mother's life. I will continue to my dying day to try to get it legalized. I spend all my money on this," Cannabis, who is the organizer of the Cannabis Hemp Information Club, said in court.