Source: BBCi Humber, Broadcast Journalist

Pub Date: Tuesday 30 April 2002

Subj: Hull's marijuana missionary

Author: Christine Demsteader

Comment: Have your say on site.

HULL'S MARIJAUNA HISTORY

Carl Wagner in his hemp haven, the Divine Herb stall in Hull

Carl on cannabis: "It's the world's most valuable resource."

BBCi Humber meets Carl Wagner, the man at the centre of Hull's herb-smoking scandal.

Carl Wagner has a vision. To open the city's first cannabis cafe and see all criminal association with the plant go up in smoke.

The owner of the Divine Herb stall in Hull's indoor market is a man on a marijuana mission.

As he chats, the free-flowing customers come and go and his phone rings incessantly.

Having already spoken to The Guardian and The Yorkshire Post, he deals with press interest with seeming ease.

He has his eye on premises in Hull's High Street and is determined to see his one-stop shop idea come to fruition.

A personal favourie, the 'Spliff-time' clock

What time is it?

"I've been asking all my customers if they would want a cafe, and they're up for it."

Recreational pleasures aside, the evangelical 'Doctor Draw' reels off an endless list of medicinal benefits and real life stories when weed has come to the rescue.

He tells of a 55-year-old female customer suffering from fibromyalgia - a muscular-skeletal pain and fatigue disorder.

Months before, he says, the woman categorised cannabis and heroin in the same breath.

Having been converted to the cause, Carl was by her side when she devoured her first chunk of cannabis chocolate.

Since opening his stall six months ago, he has a regular supply of custom for a cacophony of legal, cannabis-related produce.

Carl's hemp pasta

A natural source of nutrition?

A personal favourite is his 'Spliff-time' clock.

Top-selling tips and seeds to hemp pasta may come at a price, but advice is free.

"The kids in Hull get more drug education on my stall than they do from any drug education officer."

"They should acknowledge that 8-10 million people are smoking poison."

Carl is under no illusion that opposition to the cannabis cafe will be rife.

But he is ready to challenge those who will prevent his pot-smoking dream become a reality.

"The people who oppose it without discussion are the ones I want answers from," he says. "These people need educating."

You soon realise there's more on this man's agenda than turning Hull into the skunk capital of the north.

The 43-year old father of six has no criminal record for cannabis offences but openly admits to being a free-smoker.

Hemp flapjacks and spliff papers on sale

Carl's cannabis confectionaries

He denies serious political aspirations but did stand as a candidate for the Legalise Cannabis Alliance in the last General Election, pulling in around 500 votes.

He quotes the 1971 Dangerous Drugs Act like poetry and campaigns for more than decriminalisation.

He is the one-man organiser behind Sunday's Million Marijuana March, which alights at Queens Gardens at 1pm and culminates in a 'Smoky Bears Picnic' at Pearson Park.

Expected numbers are unknown.

"I am hoping it will be thousands rather than hundreds," he says, but having spoken to the police he adds they are fearful they have underestimated support.

A customer at Carls' Divine Herb stall eyes up the goods

Customer at Divine Herb

Sitting behind his hemp haven, there's not only a common bond but burly banter between Carl and his customers.

One 54-year-old man says he fully supports what Carl does.

"I am a fully paid-up member of society," he says.

"I work, I pay my taxes and I'm fed up of being treated like a criminal.

"We do no harm to anybody but we enjoy what we enjoy. Beer doesn't agree with me, that is why I turn to drugs."

"It's a plant, a plant," Carl chips in.

"It's the world's most valuable resource."