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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK:'The pigs can't shut us down': The Manchester Joint Cafe run by weed 'influencer' and 'connoisseur of cannabis' girlfriend Andrew Bardsley Manchester Evening News Tuesday 16 Jul 2024 A cannabis ‘influencer’ and his drug ‘connoisseur’ partner ran a café brazenly selling imported American ‘Cali weed’ from a ‘highly sophisticated’ Cheetham Hill industrial unit. Ben Gardner, 36, and his then partner, Zoe Chrysanthou, 31, have both been jailed after the ‘commercial’ operation was discovered by police. Manchester Crown Court heard the unit was transformed into the ‘Joint Café’, where members paid a £40 fee to gain access. As well as using cannabis, members could enjoy a bar serving food and drink and entertainment including pool tables and games consoles. Gardner, who was said to be a cannabis ‘influencer’, was involved in promoting the café on social media. Chrysanthou flew out to California to arrange for the importation of Cali weed to be served at the premises. When police happened upon the café, which had almost 1,800 paying members, they discovered about 70 people inside as many tried to flee. A judge said the café was a ‘determined and flagrant breach’ of drugs laws, ‘designed to generate thousands of pounds of profit'. “For all intents and purposes, this was a highly sophisticated commercial operation dealing with the sale of cannabis to customers, much in the same way that lawful cafes and bars sell their wares,” Judge John Potter said. Gardner and Chrysanthou’s lawyers both appealed for the pair to be spared jail, citing the ‘devastating’ effect it could have on their five-year-old child. But Judge Potter sentenced the pair to 31 months and 27 months in prison respectively. Prosecutors said the café first came onto the police’s radar in November 2018 after officers spotted two men leaving an industrial unit on Knowsley Street in Cheetham Hill. After stopping them, the men were found to be in possession of cannabis. When officers entered the unit they were ‘overwhelmed’ by the smell of the drug, prosecutor Harriet Lavin said. They detained about 70 people inside, with many seen trying to escape through various fire exits. Those held by police were from all across the north west. One was from Ireland. Police later discovered the unit was the home of the ‘Joint Café’, a club being run on a commercial basis. Those running the unit had taken out a ten year lease after paying a £3,000 deposit. The rent for the unit was £25,000 a year. Customers paid a fee of between £30 and £40 for membership, allowing them access to the café. It contained a bar serving food and drink, as well as pool tables and games consoles, and used a ‘very sophisticated’ extraction system. The Joint Café had 1,788 members in total. When police seized a phone they discovered a weekly work rota for staff working at the café, a menu detailing different strains of cannabis available and a list of members. Zoe Chrysanthou had flown out to California in June 2018 at the same time as the café first opened, at a time when there was a ‘business need for imported Cali weed’, Ms Lavin said. A WhatsApp group chat was also discovered which had been set up by Gardner, which allowed officers to identify others involved. Those behind the club had used social media to ‘openly advertise’ its existence, with its Instagram account boasting about 10,000 followers. In a post reporting that they had been ‘shut down’, the account said: “The pigs can’t shut us down, neither can IG.” It was discovered that they were also in the process of opening a second café, at another unit in Cheetham Hill. The judge said that the business had been run by Gardner and his then partner Zoe Chrysanthou. Zoe Chrysanthou, who described herself to police as a ‘connoisseur of cannabis’, had previously earned modest sums as a hairdresser but at one point was raking in up to £8,000 a month. Luke Chrysanthou, 25, who also appeared in the dock alongside the pair, worked in the café on at least 97 occasions. Andrew Bravender, 37, was another employee who had responsibility for recruiting new members and sometimes worked behind the bar. As part of their investigations, police seized about 2.6 kilos of cannabis worth just over £29,000. Defending Gardner, Adam Lodge said the defendant accepted he was involved at a ‘managerial’ level. He said Gardner became involved after being approached because he was a cannabis ‘influencer’, and was regarded a ‘good person’ to have in ‘getting people through the door’. Mr Lodge said Gardner is now a ‘very different person’, having become a father and earning qualifications in IT with hopes of working in that field. For Zoe Chrysanthou, David Bentley said she was pregnant with Gardner’s child at the time of the offences. He claimed she was ‘vulnerable’ due to her circumstances, and acted under the direction of her former partner. He said that Chrysanthou denied being involved in the running of the café on a day-to-day basis, and was not in the WhatsApp group. Chrysanthou has debts and physical and mental health difficulties, Mr Bentley said. He said that both her and her former partner being sent to prison would be ‘devastating’ for their child. Defending Bravender, Andy Scott said that the defendant’s ‘entrenched’ cannabis addiction is his ‘demon’, having used the drug since the age of 14. For Luke Chrysanthou, Alaric Walmsley said his client had an ‘employee’ role and was acting under the direction of others. He said Chrysanthou has not committed any further offences since, and has found work and is contributing to society. Bravender was sentenced to three and a half years in prison, while Luke Chrysanthou received an eight month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, and was ordered to carry out 15 rehabilitation activity requirement days and 150 hours of unpaid work. Gardner, of Outwood Road, Heald Green; Bravender, of Deepdale Avenue, Swinton; Luke Chrysanthou, of Park Green, Macclesfield; Zoe Chrysanthou, of Caldy Road, Handforth, all pleaded guilty to conspiring to supply cannabis between June 2018 and April 2019. Bravender also admitted possessing heroin and crack cocaine with intent to supply, after officers saw him dealing in Piccadilly Gardens in March 2020. Zoe Chrysanthou also admitted a further offence of being concerned in the supply of cannabis, after she was caught trying to send small quantities of the drug in the post in December 2022. https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/the-pigs-cant-shut-down-29545962
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