Open drug dealing has spurred a councillor to call for Green Pride to be banned from the parks of Brighton and Hove.
Conservative councillor Joe Miller said that he was not opposed to a march through the streets but the event had progressed from its origins as a protest – rather like gay pride had.
Councillor Miller said that his family had been shocked to see drug paraphernalia on sale and drug dealing taking police in front of a heavy police presence in Preston Park in 2019.
That’s when members of his family stumbled across the last Green Pride event – it was cancelled last year because of the government’s coronavirus restrictions.
His father and Councillor Miller’s four-year-old niece could smell cannabis as Mr Miller took the girl to a play area.
Councillor Miller said: “It was a Saturday afternoon. It wasn’t advertised or anything and he noticed the police were there and there were stalls selling drug paraphernalia and there was clearly drug dealing going on in front of the police.
“And my Dad said, ‘what the hell is the council doing letting people do that on the park – and why aren’t the police doing something about it?’
“Everyone has the right to protest. In its early years, it was very much about people marching and protesting against cannabis being a class B drug.
“In recent years the event has had sponsorship and paid-for stalls which is not permitted on a council park without a formal agreement with the council.”
On Thursday (25 March) Councillor Miller plans to ask Brighton and Hove City Council to take steps to prohibit the use of Preston Park or any other council land for Green Pride.
He said that he supported the use of medicinal cannabis and CBD oil in line with national legislation.
He hopes to win support at a virtual meeting of the full council, which is due to start at 4.30pm on Thursday and is scheduled to be webcast on the council’s website.
Green Pride said: “The claim by the councillor that Green Pride wasn’t advertised or known by the local authorities is misleading.
“We had several meetings with the council and Sussex Police before the event and we look forward to working with them in the future.”
The event is currently postponed until 2022 because of the covid-19 pandemic.
NOTE the 4th and 5th paragraph of this story have been corrected to make clear that Councillor Miller was not in Preston Park during Green Pride 2019.
…….. They won’t ban it…. It’s a shindig for their most loyal voters…..
For the councillors who fakely blame others for talking about “national issues” it’s amazing how much brighton and hove tories fixate on national issues, they even have it in this about “national legislation”
Because the National Issue is exasperated be looney swivel eyed left green and Labour policy and is causing vast amounts of local harm…
The amount of harm caused by a few quite stoners in a park is unbelievable!! Nothing wrong with extreme drug addicts shooting up and dealing at the level though, that’s all good…
Why didn’t the councillor tell the Police or complain to Tory PCC Katy Bourne ?
Legitimate businesses that rely on festivals will go out of business because the police don’t enforce the law.
It’s notable that where there are complaints about minor crime – begging, graffiti, cycling on pavements etc. No-one thinks they should contact Katy Bourne about Police enforcement.
And being the conduit between the public & police is precisely her job and is why we pay £ millions for a PCC and her office
Geeza needs to get a life
Green Pride? That’s a laugh for a start. It should be changed to Green Disgrace.
Someone called “Hove Guy” being anti-fun, colour me shocked /s