Please print this page and collect as many signatures as possible. When complete please return all petition forms to:
Cambridge Two Campaign, 6 Hertford Street, Cambridge CB4 3AG by 10th December 2000.

The Petition will be handed in to Downing Street at 1.15pm on Monday 18th December 2000

Petition

Stop jailing charity workers!
Rewrite Section 8

Last year Ruth Wyner and John Brock, the Director and Day Centre Manager of Wintercomfort, a Cambridge charity for the homeless, were convicted under Section 8 of the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act because some of the people they were looking after had been secretly exchanging drugs on the charity premises. The judge himself stressed that they had not been involved in or profited from the trades in any way. Indeed, in the 15 months previous to the arrests, they had banned over 170 people from the premises for suspected or actual drug offences.

Yet Ruth and John were sentenced to five years and four years in prison. In July they were released on bail, pending their appeals this autumn.

The Police Foundation Report of the independent inquiry into the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, published following the convictions, has recommended that Section 8 be redrafted, calling it "unclear and confusing", and a potential "source of serious injustice".

We call on the Home Office to rewrite Section 8 so that no other charity workers have to endure the misery that Ruth and John have been put through.

This petition is backed by UNISON, the largest trade union in Britain; MSF, the second largest trade union grouping in the European Parliament; The National Homeless Alliance; Release, the drugs and legal advice helpline, Anne Campbell MP (Labour, Cambridge), Peter Bottomley MP (Conservative, Worthing) and The Big Issue.