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Thursday, November 18, 2021 19

Newbury Weekly News

Your views talk to us POST: Newspaper House, Faraday Road, Newbury, RG14 2AD EMAIL: editor@newburynews.co.uk Email letters to e ditor@newburynews.co.uk with your full name, a terrestrial address and daytime phone number. DEADLINE: MONDAY NOON

Cannabis slavery right here in West Berkshire? ON October 28, NWN reported about cannabis farm raids in both Newbury and Aylesbury. Of those arrested, three of the four were of “no fixed abode” and had very “exotic” names. Some comments on social media were xenophobic, citing “immigrants coming over here doing crime”. Although the police investigation is ongoing, it could be that these people were slaves. Although the UK is the biggest global grower and exporter of medicinal cannabis, due to prohibition cultivation for recreational purposes is monopolised by organised criminals. Crime gangs traffic and enslave thousands of vulnerable people in the UK (many of which are children from countries like Vietnam), with the purpose of cultivating cannabis for the illicit UK market, estimated to be worth £2.6bn. Trafficked slaves are obviously cheap, expendable (many die in captivity) and easy to intimidate through violence and the threat of deportation. Cannabis slavery is a blight on the UK, and our local West Berks communities. Although not perfect, Canada who legalised, taxed, and regulated recreational cannabis in 2018, do not have this problem. Instead, government bodies properly inspect farms similar to how our

government regulates alcohol production, certifying factories are safe, secure, and workers’ rights ensured. Rather than bashing immigrants, folks should support a compassionate and evidence-based approach to UK cannabis law, which puts regulation, workers’ rights, and stifling criminal enterprise at its core. We should be moving away from the tried, tested and failed 50-year-old policies of the “war on drugs”. MICHAEL WAKELYN-GREEN Newbury constituency Labour Party policy officer and drug and alcohol treatment professional Greenham women still fighting for justice ON November 14, 1983, the first cruise missiles were flown over my house to USAF Greenham Common Air Base. Cruisewatch motivated their telephone tree and the national and international press were informed that cruise missiles were in Greenham. This started a campaign that continued to monitor, track and publicise the American cruise missile convoys so that they could only come out with a heavy police escort, were never secret and eventually were withdrawn. On November 14 three Greenham women – Jane Gregory, Juley Howard and Lorna Richardson – went from Blue Gate Greenham

at a glance, how sustainably what we are consuming has been created. It’s not a new idea, as I proposed this as an amendment to the environmental policy at the 2019 Liberal Democrat conference (it was accepted). However, as time has gone on, I’ve become even more certain that people can use their buying influence to drive forward faster changes in those countries causing the biggest problems. China’s current strength is mainly based on having weaponised capitalism and it has been using that against the rest of the world (especially the West) for decades now. Their weakness, therefore, is that they need the rest of the world to consume what they produce and should consequently be open to influence on how they produce it. If we refuse to buy products that are not created sustainably, then it is more likely those producing them will change. because we consume so much, but only if we make it clear that we will not buy planet-destroying products. Fingers crossed COP26 was a turning point and that everyone now keeps the promises they made. ADRIAN ABBS Shadow portfolio holder for the environment and public protection West Berkshire Council The UK can still have a large influence on these producers

Common (top of Pyle Hill) to walk in the desert outside Las Vegas to stop a British nuclear underground test on the land of the Western Shoshone people. Today, the Western Shoshone are preparing their case for compensation against the American government who are unlawfully claiming their land and for damages to their health caused by nuclear testing. Anybody interested in justice and supporting their case should contact me. LYNETTE EDWELL Priory Road Newbury Thanks to couple who paid for my shopping MAY I express through your columns my sincere gratitude to the lady and gentleman who so very kindly helped me through an awful predicament in Tesco’s Northbrook Street branch on Friday evening last. I am at the moment nursing a very poorly dog who has seen me through some tough times, particularly over the last few years. My purpose for shopping was to buy him some fresh food to help with his diet and one or two other purchases. It was only when I went to check out that I realised with horror that I had left my wallet at home and being stuck with limited mobility it would have taken me sometime to go home, retrieve it and get back again. The staff at Tesco’s were kind and

very helpful, but because of the chill factor, they said that they couldn’t keep the chilled food too long for obvious reasons, but that they would hold the rest for me. It was then that this wonderful couple who, clearly seeing my distress, stepped in and paid for my goods without a second thought. But in my confusion and anxiety, I didn’t think to ask them for some way to repay them – a phone number, address and so forth. So if you are reading this note, I can’t tell you how deeply grateful I am to you both, and it would make me so very happy if I could find you. In these extraordinarily tough times, I believe our faith in humanity has been so much restored, and the kindness of strangers has not been diminished. May God bless you both. PETER ROBINSON Northcroft Lane, Newbury How to get your views published in the NWN THE Newbury Weekly News is delighted to receive letters and views from readers. Preference will be given to letters of fewer than 300 words and local topics. All views may be edited to conform with legal and publishing requirements. The identities of contributors may be withheld only in exceptional circumstances.

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