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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Dundee up in smoke with first cannabis cafe
James Hall Scotland on Sunday
Sunday 18 Nov 2001 JUTE, jam, journalism and now joints. Fans of 'wacky baccy' will shortly be heading for Dundee to share a spliff at Scotland's first cannabis cafe. Campaigners for the medical use of the drug - backed by Dutch entrepreneurs - are scouring the city for a venue in time for a Christmas opening. Spurred on by the success of the UK's first Dutch-style cafe in Stockport, which has now been open for nine weeks without police interference, supporters say the time has come for Scottish cannabis users to make a public stand. The cafe will offer cut-price 'mediweed' for those with medical conditions. This will be subsidised by purchases made by social smokers and sales of coffee, tea, sandwiches and sweets. The organisers are among a new breed of cannabis entrepreneurs emerging after Home Secretary David Blunkett announced he was planning to downgrade the drug to class C, the same as tranquillisers. Campaigners have set up a Scottish branch of the Medical Marijuana Co-operative - the organisation behind the Stockport cafe - to organise supplies for those with medical conditions. They have visited the Netherlands to see how the coffee shop concept works and have won support from Nol van Schaik, who runs the Global Hemp Museum and three cannabis cafes in Haarlem. Colin Davies, who set up the Stockport cafe, is also giving the Scottish team advice on how to run the Dundee operation, which could quickly be followed by others in Edinburgh and Glasgow. One of MMCO-Scotland's key activists, who wanted to be known only as Jimmy, said: "We will be up and running before Christmas. There is somebody already seeking property full-time in the city and, when he has found it, he will then become the 'front runner' - the person who will be faced with the prospect of harassment from the local forces. "Cannabis will be available on the premises but it won't be advertised as being sold on the premises. The owner won't be aware of any dealings." Jimmy has used cannabis to relieve the post-traumatic stress he has endured since he was shot while serving as a soldier in Northern Ireland. Alistair Ramsay, director of Scotland Against Drugs, said: "Having gone to Amsterdam and seen the cannabis cafes over there, they are not the answer. The majority of people in cannabis cafes are not Dutch and local people resent this. "The other issue is that, for some people, cannabis is the gateway substance to a heroin dependency, and we have a lot of people with a heroin problem." No one from Tayside Police was available for comment.
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