Freebies at Pot Picnic

Media pressure to be on Hampshire Police at this Sunday's
Annual Smokey Bears Picnic in Portsmouth.

Crews from indymedia and CNN will be a part of the media scrum heading for the
south coast this weekend to report on a picnic in support of cannabis legalisation.

Hampshire Police have issued statements saying they will "come down hard on
dope smokers" at this Sunday's Smokey Bears Picnic in Portsmouth.

Despite concerted Police efforts over the years, the Smokey Bears have remained
elusive yet effective. The seaside town has been dotted with stickers advertising
the event. Even a major intersection into Portsmouth now hosts a grafiitted
advertisement for the Picnic in 5 foot high red lettering. This will be the eighth year
they have organised this unlicensed event adjacent to the sea front on Southsea
Common.

Undercurrents has met local campaigners calling for a change in the law. They
believe the debate surrounding the legalisation of cannabis has already been
won; the talk now should be about how to put this into effect.

Local police however are sticking to the letter of the law. In recent years a zero
tolerance approach has seen sniffer dogs, attempts at mass arrests and scuffles
when they targeted notorious cannabis smuggler Howard Marks.

By deploying video surveillance teams, plain clothes officers and by their sheer
weight of numbers, the police obviously regard the Smokey Bears as public
enemy number one.

Last year, after making fun of a police officers' ginger wig, local man Jon Neil was
arrested. He was released without charge but not before police had slandered him
in details given to local media. This astonishing 'foot and mouth' fiasco resulted in
a four figure sum in compensation.

Mr. Neil plans to attend this weekend's event with £100 worth of ice cream and
'munchies' to distribute. He said "I think my arrest last year and the entire police
operation was about bullying. But by using part of my compensation in this way
some of Hampshire Constabulary's money will be put to more constructive use".

Also set to attend will be Labour councillor Jason Fazackarley, head of the city's
public protection committee, who supports a change in the law. He has said that
those taking part have every right to demonstrate.

With cannabis topping the political agenda and a majority of people supporting
some change in the law it remains to be seen how the tactics of the police will
effect numbers attending this years event.

http://www.smokeybearspicnic.com
bear [at] hotpotmail.com

http://www.undercurrents.org