A SELF-confessed cannabis-user says he is prepared to go to prison to highlight his campaign for legalisation of the drug.

Businessman Dave Wilson claims his battle against the establishment started in the summer of 1997 when he was arrested for breach of the peace after soaking a friend with a bucket of water in Blackburn town centre.

When he was searched at Blackburn Police Station he was found to have £2 worth of cannabis in his pocket.

Dave, of Bolton Road, Ewood, Blackburn, said: "I was charged with possession of cannabis. But when I asked if I could be cautioned as this was my first drug offence, my request was refused, and I was bailed to appear before local magistrates.

"Then I read in the paper that Jack Straw's son William had received a caution for selling drugs to an undercover reporter.

"I was disgusted. I hadn't tried to sell drugs - what I had was a small amount of home-grown cannabis that had been given to me by a friend for my own personal use." So Dave, who owns aromatherapy shop Naturally Yours, decided to take his fight to clear his name to the Crown Court.

Representing himself, he pleaded not guilty to possession of cannabis as he felt the case against him was unjust.

He cross-examined the police officers involved in his case about their policy for cautioning, and asked the judge if he could show the jurors some articles about jurors' rights and the Magna Carta, which state that if a jury feels a law is unjust they can find the defendant not guilty.

Dave said: "The judge told me not to come into his court with 16th century laws and instructed the jury to return a guilty verdict.

"I was fined £1,000 and told that if I didn't pay my fines I would go to prison for seven days - all this for £2 worth of cannabis.

"God only knows how much my trial has cost the tax-payers, and it will cost them even more if I go to prison. But I am refusing to pay the fine on principle, so prison is inevitable.

"It is about time this law was changed and the Government realised that people are not doing any harm by smoking cannabis. "There are worse things people could be doing than smoking pot and money should be spent on punishing hardened criminals, not people like me.

"Sending me to prison will not do any good - it will just cause suffering for tax-payers, my wife and my five-year-old daughter."

A spokesman for the Crown Prosecution Service said the sentence for possession of cannabis varies from judge to judge, but would be within the maximum or minimum sentence allowed for that offence. The maximum sentence magistrates can impose for a first offence of possession of cannabis is six months imprisonment and a £5,000 fine.

Dave wants people who support his stand to contact him on 01254 692735.

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