Heavy handed treatment of students

I have been reading with alarm the information on your website in regards to Abe Gray's arrest and the heavy-handed tactics being used by the university and police. It is incredibly disturbing that he has been treated like a dangerous criminal, being handcuffed (and being harmed as a result) and then thrown into a dirty cell. I have met Abe a few times whilst he was organising Cannabis Awareness Week and I found him to be hard working and committed to a belief that is not only of concern to those students who attend the university, but also of concern and importance to many of us in the wider community. And, in case you're wondering, I'm in my 50s so it is not just young people who are committed to ending prohibition of cannabis.

It is not just Abe, but a number of hard-working students, good people who are not doing anyone any harm, who are being victimised and treated badly. Is it just me, or does it seem as if this heavy handedness has come along after the publicity of Cannabis Awareness Week where students and community members attended information days, culminating in the amazing and fun J Day at the Octagon? Do the university bigwigs and the police feel they've lost face and need to show that they have the upper hand? What's going on?

This issue is not just a matter of allowing students to smoke a bit of weed on campus, it is about wide-ranging social rights issues where people have a right to protest and work towards something that they feel deeply about. Prohibition of cannabis is absurd and leads to wasting police time when they could be doing more important police work. It is also a waste of university time and money to spy on students who are doing nothing more than having a quiet smoke with like-minded people in a beautiful, peaceful setting.

As James Gluck said in his speech to the International Socialist's Organisation on 17 July 2008, it doesn't matter what your personal opinion is in regards to the legalisation of cannabis, it is important to have the freedom to protest. If the treatment of Abe Gray and other students at the university is allowed to continue, then how do you know that future protesters of other movements will not be treated in exactly the same way? How do you know that your right to express your opinion will not lead to arrest or worse?

Yours faithfully,
Carol (celeste) Ford