Thousands of people gather in London's Hyde Park for cannabis party on National Pot S
Large groups of people congregated in Hyde Park for the pro-cannabis rally on Saturday as parents and young children played nearby.
Demonstrators were seen waving placards bearing slogans such as "Fight crime, not cannabis" as they called for the drug to be legalised.
The protest was held as part of 'National Pot Smoking Day', which is marked every year on April 20.
Few police were present on the scene and Met Police officers made no obvious attempt to arrest anyone for possession of cannabis.
A spokesman for Scotland Yard later confirmed said they were unaware of any arrests that had been made in connection with the event.
However, many Londoners were outraged that the protesters were allowed to smoke cannabis in one of the capital's most famous parks.
One jogger in Hyde Park told the Daily Mail: "I think it’s outrageous that people are allowed to come to the park and take illegal drugs.
"It felt like the small number of police who were there were turning a blind eye.
"As far as I’m concerned they should have been arrested. They are drug takers, not people making a serious political point."
The London cannabis club, which urged its followers on social networking sites to attend the event, claimed up to 10,000 people attended the 4/20 rally, as the demonstration is known.
The group said on Twitter that the rally would be "the largest public cannabis smoke up" in the UK.
Last year a report from the British Lung Foundation found many people underestimate the dangers of cannabis.
It found a third of people think the drug is harmless, despite it being 20 times more carcinogenic to smoke than tobacco.
It also said cannabis was “strongly associated” with suppression of the immune system and heart disease, if taken for long enough.
from
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukn...nnabis-party-on-National-Pot-Smoking-Day.html
