well its not really all tea and crumpets here in the US, either. (sorry) it really depends on where you live here. California is golden (so to speak) but where I live one could be looking at a life sentence for growing even one plant! most of the busts here are from state cops as opposed to federal police, so the biggest concern here is usually about the state level laws.

But, that said, even when California passed med use in 1996, they were still subject to federal arrest and many were. Everyone said you cannot legalize med use at the State level, it is a federal matter, in which California replied, as Californian's generally do, fuck you we do what we want. Now, 13 years later there are 12 other States that have followed suite and the feds have all but agreed to quit busting them.

I remember when I signed up to get my med card there was a paragraph that stated something to the effect of you are about to take part in an organized act of civil disobediance against the US Federal Gov't. Kind of a scary thing to sign up for but I'm glad I did. It seemed to have worked.

I'm not sure if that helps you much in the UK but that seems to be the one way we have ever made much progress here. I think we invented reefer madness here and, unfortunely, its still alive and well here, too.