Sleaze holds no fear for selfstyled Mr Nice, writes Michael
Horsnell

Campaigner for legalised cannabis
lights up Norwich

OTHER politicians may blanch at the mention of the word,
but sleaze is the one factor that the aspiring MP Howard
Marks has nothing to worry about during the election
campaign.

Mr Marks, once the most wanted cannabis smuggler in the
world, is standing as an independent in both the Norwich
constituencies North and South on an antiprohibition
ticket.

"My skeletons are very much out of the cupboard," the
Oxford graduate said yesterday. "Sleaze is of no
consequence to me. In fact the more allegations they make
against me, the better."

Mr Marks, suntanned from the spring sunshine of Majorca,
where he lives with his wife, Judy, and three of his four
children, wants to legalise cannabis. He says prohibition
leaves its supply in the hands of profiteers and criminalises
the young. He should know, having run a multimillionpound
empire and been sentenced to 25 years in America for
racketeering.

Mr Marks, who was released two years ago after serving
less than seven years of his sentence, confesses to having
made "a few million" from importing up to 50 tonnes of
cannabis at a time from Pakistan, Thailand and the Far East
into Europe and America. He smokes cannabis daily.
"Cannabis makes you feel better," he said.

He flew into Norwich to set up his campaign headquarters in
the backstreet emporium, Paradox Delights, run by his agent
Derek Williams. There, everything from hemp oil hair
conditioner to high energy New Earth seed bars is sold to
people who enjoy "herbal highs".

Mr Marks has fond memories of Norwich. It was here that
he bought a false passport in the name of Donald Nice, now
deceased, and used it as one of his 43 aliases. He used Mr
Nice as the title of his autobiography, published last year.

More importantly, Norwich is the base of the Campaign to
Legalise Cannabis International, which is backing him in its
fifth anniversary year in his singleissue fight for a
parliamentary seat. Ladbrokes is offering 10,0001 against
his election. But he has received support from some students
at East Anglia University.

"Essentially, my aim is to prevent criminalising youth and
messing up their careers by putting them in prison," he said.
"But it is also a question of civil liberty to be able to take
cannabis.

"It is my right to do what I want as long it doesn't harm
anyone else. It is also for people suffering from various
medical conditions for which doctors would like to prescribe
cannabis but are being denied."

He is convinced that cannabis will be legalised one day. "But
I'm standing for Parliament because I'm in a bit of a rush."