A PRO-CANNABIS candidate standing in next week’s Westminster election says he would meet the dissident gangs targeting people in Strabane for using the drug.

A PRO-CANNABIS candidate standing in next week’s Westminster election says he would meet the dissident gangs targeting people in Strabane for using the drug.

Barry Brown will contest the West Tyrone seat on behalf of the ‘Cannabis Is Safer Than Alcohol (CISTA) party. He is one of three CISTA members standing in the North, alongside Andrew Magorrian (South Down) and Glenn Donnelly (North Down).

Alongside seven other candidates Mr Brown put forward his case for election during a debate on Tuesday evening.


He claimed that the illegal cannabis market was costing the local economy £3 million every week. With proper regulation it could be grown, inspected, consumed and even exported from Northern Ireland, Barry Brown said.

His party’s manifesto cites the examples of successful models in the United States, such as Colorado, where medicinal use of cannabis has been legalised.

Speaking following the debate though Mr Brown revealed that he had stopped short of canvassing in Strabane because of a fear of reprisals from dissident organisations.

He said that one image in particular, that of a hooded man flanked by a masked and heavily armed gang, had put him off knocking on doors in the town.

The photo was provided to the Strabane Chronicle by Republican Action Against Drugs (RAAD) at the height of their violent campaign in 2010. The chilling picture was accompanied by a statement warning drug dealers of violent reprisals.

Barry Brown said that if the dissident group had previously targeted individuals for using cannabis then they were “misinformed”.

“I did say that I would not canvas generally but I pointed out too that it would not be safe to canvas in Strabane because I could be taken in, tied up and made an example of,” the CISTA representative said.

“They are misinformed and to bundle cannabis in with all other drugs is something we are trying to get away from.”

A former assistant to West Tyrone MLA Joe Byrne, Barry Brown campaigned for the SDLP in the 2010 General Election. In 2011 he became a candidate himself for the SDLP, standing in the Omagh Town district electoral area for the 2011 local government elections alongside local SDLP councillor and GP Dr Josephine Deehan, winning 205 first preference votes. He later left the party.

He said the response to CISTA’s campaign had been “mentally positive” and that in next year’s Assembly elections the party would be standing candidates in all 18 constituencies across Northern Ireland.

CISTA, Barry Brown added, was not a “flash in the pan” party and that it was here to stay. For that reason he would be prepared to meet groups like RAAD to explain the party’s stance.

“I don’t know whether it is the £3 million per week or whether it is the cannabis itself. But what we are trying to do is re-educate that it is not the bad drug they think it is,” Mr Brown added.