The stage was set for a historic event. Never mind that Amnesty International was not there, nor the satellite television networks. Undeterred, "Ming the Merciless", the Galway-based campaigner for the legalisation of cannabis, smoked his last joint and set off for jail yesterday - only to find to his horror that his dad had paid the fine.
"Flummoxed" was how one supporter, Mr Mike Casey, described Ming's reaction last night on hearing that all the effort and media hype had been for naught. Ming, alias Luke Flanagan (26), of Castlerea, Co Roscommon, ran on a legalise-cannabis ticket during the last general election. He also ran in the Dublin City Marathon (three hours 20 minutes).
He was convicted on two summonses in Galway District Court last October of possessing cannabis worth about £10, and was fined £150, on pain of a 15day prison sentence for default. At the time, his solicitor told the court that he would serve time rather than pay the penalty. Even as the four-month deadline expired yesterday, the sacrificial lamb was unaware that he had been spared.
In fact, he had to remind the authorities of his crime.
Ming presented himself at Mill Street Garda station just after 9 a.m. yesterday, to be told that the warrant wasn't ready and that he would have to go home.
The reception at Mill Street was friendly. He was given a cheery greeting by gardai arriving on duty.
Late in the day, the campaigner learned that he could have stayed a bit longer in bed. A call to Galway District Court confirmed that the £150 fine had been paid earlier this week by an "anonymous" party. The benefactor turned out to be his dad. His father, also Luke Flanagan (perhaps now to be known as Ming the Merciful) and a carpenter by trade, was unavailable for comment yesterday. His mother preferred to hold her own counsel.
"I wouldn't like my son to go to prison," Mrs Flanagan said.
Mrs Flanagan's son says he has been smoking cannabis for about eight years, and believes the health benefits outweigh the risks. He polled 540 votes during the last general election. A film on his experience out on the hustings, entitled Dole Eireann and made by Mr Casey, won the best documentary award at the Galway Film Fleadh.
Ming intends to enter the London Marathon this year, and is also keen to compete in the capital of certain narcotic substances, Amsterdam.
