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UK: Dutch-style cannabis cafe opens in Britain

Angelique Chrisafis

The Guardian

Saturday 15 Sep 2001

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The UK's only Dutch-style cannabis cafe opens today,
selling bags of weed and rolled joints from a shopfront
in Stockport, Greater Manchester.

The Dutch Experience will be run by Colin Davies, a
sufferer of debilitating back pain. Cafe staff will
defy laws banning the supply of cannabis, claiming that
there is a moral obligation to provide the drug to
people who use it therapeutically.

Mr Davies is founder of the Medical Marijuana
Co-operative, a non-profit organisation which provides
cannabis for multiple sclerosis and arthritis sufferers
who need the drug to ease pain, but do not want to buy
it from street dealers.

The Stockport cafe will sell three types of grass and
three types of resin in 2g and 5g bags, with ready-
rolled joints for novices. It will operate from a
former restaurant, and will also sell coffee and
cakes, but no alcohol.

Marijuana will be sold to both medical and recreational
users, with social smokers subsidising the low-cost
medical users. The cafe will also act as a meeting
place for sufferers of chronic pain.

Mr Davies, 44, who once handed the Queen a bouquet
containing marijuana, has been acquitted twice of
cultivating and selling the drug for medical use.
He feels his acquittals could be seen as test cases
and is confident that the cannabis cafe will stay
open despite the fact that supply of the drug is
illegal.

Mr Davies said: "We want to be transparent and
act in a civilised way. We have got to get the
medicine to the patients, so we aim to stay open
with the support of many local people. I feel it
is immoral to withhold cures from people
experiencing acute pain."

Mr Davies previously told a court he smoked up to
four joints a day to relieve back pain after a
fall at work in 1994. He will be assisted by Dutch
traders with experience of running similar
licensed cafes in Amsterdam.

A spokeswoman for Greater Manchester police said
officers would not turn a blind eye to the cafe.
"It is illegal and we will have to deal with the
sale of any drugs," she said.


 

 

 

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