Cannabis users plan to smoke openly at Exeter park in protest at 'ridiculous' law

Last year's cannabis protest picnic in Exeter

Cannabis smokers will gather to openly smoke the drug during a protest picnic in Exeter later this month.

The Devon Cannabis Club will be holding its Harvest Picnic at Flowerpot Playing Fields in Exeter on September 27 between 2pm and 6pm.

Last year a similar protest was held in Exeter that was attended by around 60 cannabis users.

This year's event is being promoted on facebook and the page states: "Come and join us for a picnic and to consume herb to lift the blanket of stigma and these ridiculous laws."

So far, 40 people have confirmed on the facebook page they will be attending.

Daryl Sullivan, is the South West regional admin for The United Kingdom Cannabis Social Clubs, a national NGO made up of grass-roots movements all over the country.

He said: "Our aim is to raise awareness of the benefits of cannabis and to address the bias and misinformation so often seen in the mainstream media.

"To this end we have, for the past two years, been holding public 'protest picnics' around the country.

"These are gatherings where people get together and openly smoke cannabis to prove that it can be done sensibly and without harm to anyone, and to show the absurdity of its illegal status. We also provide leaflets and information regarding cannabis, the harms of prohibition and why we believe a legal, regulated system would take away many of the problems we see now.

"The protests have been quite sucessful at pushing this issue into the public eye."

Last year around 60 people took part in a similar event at Flowerpot Fields.

Although there was a strong police presence in the park there were no arrests.

Police had pledged to monitor the event and said that while anyone smoking cannabis would be breaking the law, they recognised the right to peaceful protest.

And police confirmed that the protest passed without incident and no arrests were made.

http://www.exeterexpressandecho.co.uk/Cannabis-users-plan-smoke-openly-Exeter-park/story-22894355-detail/story.html 09/09/2014