Published Letter:
Was It Right To Charge Cannabis Campaigner?
Source: Hull
Daily Mail, UK
Pub Date:
Friday, 10 January 2004
Pub LTE: Was It
Right To Charge Cannabis Campaigner?
Author: Don Barnard
Ref: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1940/a09.html?1286
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n2010/a01.html?1286
WAS IT RIGHT TO
CHARGE CANNABIS CAMPAIGNER?
The chilling and
scary accounts in the Mail about Legalise Cannabis Alliance campaigner Carl
Wagner, who was raided by police in riot gear as a result of an
"anonymous" phone call (Mail, December 17) sent shivers up my spine.
Did it not occur
to the police to use its intelligence department to verify the allegations
before its over-the-top raid, which came away with an embarrassing result?
By offering Mr
Wagner a caution (Pro-cannabis campaigner fights charge, Mail, December 30) one
has to wonder whether the police harbour misgivings for holding Mr Wager in
custody for 11 hours, submitting his wife to an embarrassing body search, not
to mention traumatising a three-year-old child.
More daunting,
however, is the realisation that by charging Mr Wagner, they believe what they
did was justified.
I would be
interested what the people of Hull and their elected representatives (MPs,
councillors, etc) think. Was it best practice? Was it value for money? What
useful purpose has it served?
Don Barnard,
Press officer,
Braintree,
Essex.