ManCan: The Greater Manchester Cannabis Social Club held its first public protest and smoke-up.
By Chris Shaw
(Admin/ Treasurer of ManCan: The Greater Manchester Cannabis Social Club)
The weather was bleak and seemed to get worse every minute that passed. And it reflected in the number of people that attended. I arrived late myself( thanks to the wonderful Rosso and First bus networks) to find Angel meadows was empty, however within minutes of my arrival another admin and 2 members turned up. We rolled a few spliffs, shared them among ourselves and had a discussion about indoor and outdoor growing and what strains suited our rather cold and wet climate.
By about 3pm we had been joined by 6 or 7 more, most of which were medicinal users. The conversation then moved onto the hypocrisy of current legislation and the real, proven medicinal, social and financial benefits of cannabis. The interesting conversations mixed with the extremely relaxing and uplifting atmosphere made time fly by, hours seemed like minutes. When it got to about 6pm the bitter cold and drizzle of rain was causing great discomfort to some of the medicinal users who unfortunately had to leave, however they showed great dedication coping with the weather for so long.
As the evening went on 4 more arrived, more spliffs, vapes and laughs were shared. Unfortunately time seemed to pass too quickly and before we knew it 8 o’clock rolled by and everyone then had to make their ways home. Although i had hoped more would have turned up throughout the day I believe it was a success. We stood there to make our point clear that cannabis and its users are not a harm to society, and we had a great time doing so. The police did not give us any bother, and we were left to ourselves to enjoy what we were campaigning for.
I hope to be arranging another protest and smoke-up as soon as possible, I have even been asked to organize a protest just before or after Christmas by a few members. So who knows that might be in the pipe-work.
I had a great time meeting everyone that attended, my kindest regards to you all for making it a great day.
