Organisers of 420 cannabis event in Platt Fields press case for medicinal use of cannabis
- Hundreds attend cannabis celebration in Manchester
- Cannabis activists Callie Blackwell and Jeff Ditchfield argue for medicinal benefits of cannabis
- Drug openly smoked and no police presence
More than 1,000 people attended Manchester's 420 celebration in Platt Fields Park on Sunday.
The event was in part to promote what many users claim are the drug's medicinal benefits.
Cookie, one of the group's organisers, told us how happy she was with how the event went: "I'm buzzing so hard, still I can't believe how well it went
"We are all so lucky and blessed I can't wait for what's to come!"
Cannabis is illegal in the UK, but there was no police presence at Sunday's event, with hundreds of people openly smoking the drug.
Asked if he felt like a criminal for attending the event, one participant told the Northern Quota: "Obviously we're not criminals. Can you show me the victim of our so-called 'crime'?"
Many people attending the event said they used cannabis medicinally.
Cannabis is classified by the government as a Schedule I substance, meaning that is has no medicinal value. Jeff Ditchfield says he distributes cannabis oil to many ill people, including over 100 terminally ill children, through Bud Buddies, defying what he calls an "unjust law".
One of those he has helped is Callie Blackwell, whose Deryn wasdiagnosed with terminal cancer and whom she treated with cannabis oil.
She has appeared on national TV to talk about her experience with medicinal cannabis.
She claims that cannabis helped her son's recovery but admits that more research into the benefits of using cannabis medicinally is needed.
Reggae-dub blasted throughout the day on the sound system that Mannijuana, the group who organised the entire event, set-up.