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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Cannabis cafe for Liverpool
Andy Kelly And Claire Tolley Daily Post, Liverpool
Wednesday 27 Feb 2002 DUTCH-STYLE cannabis cafe is expected to open in Liverpool within weeks. The coffee shop will not sell the drug, but will act as a venue for cannabis smokers to meet and smoke in a communal atmosphere. A Liverpool bar owner is behind the plans and has enlisted a Dutch expert to help with the cafe. Such outlets have been tolerated in Holland for a number of years. Nol van Schaik is co-owner of the Dutch Experience, a similar venture which opened controversially in Stockport last September. His English business partner, Colin Davies, is still on remand in Strangeways awaiting trial on various cannabis-related charges after Manchester Police raided the cafe on its opening day. Speaking from Holland, Mr van Schaik said: "The bar owner is visiting me later this week for help in decorating the cafe. "He already has three cafe's and bars in Liverpool and wants to change one of them into a Dutch-style coffee house. "This is something we want to be out in the open - there is no point in hiding away. He enlisted my help at a recent conference in Liverpool." Cannabis possession is still illegal in the UK, although there are plans to reduce its classification from a Class B drug to Class C. But the Dutchman is convinced a Liverpool cannabis cafe would be able to operate with few problems. "More than 50 of us tried very hard to get arrested outside Stockport police station with cannabis in a recent protest but were unsuccessful, so why should Liverpool be different?" he said. Mr van Schaik is working as a consultant for three other proposed cannabis cafe's, in Rhyl, Milton Keynes and Bournemouth, the latter due to open this week. He believes there will soon be a significant rise in the number of cannabis cafe's in the UK and the main problems will be practical rather than legal. "Finding businessmen to open the cafe's will be the problem, since current dealers are unlikely to want to go legitimate, paying taxes and staff," he said. North West MEP Chris Davies, a campaigner for the legalisation of cannabis, believes open flouting of the law will be inevitable. "Ten years ago, major supermarkets deliberately set out to break the law by opening on Sundays. "There was massive public demand for a change and this situation is no different. "They are challenging a law so ridiculous that if you made it up people wouldn't believe you. "In one year, 130,000 people die from smoking, 30,000 from alcohol and not a single one from cannabis. Drug crime is 99pc linked to heroin and cocaine, yet 70pc of police time is taken up with cannabis." Mr Davies, who will reappear in court in March after walking into Stockport police station with cannabis stuck to a postage stamp, believes the lessons of Holland must be learned by the UK. "As we heard at the recent Liverpool Cannabis Conference, drug addiction in Holland is less than half that of the UK and drug crime is significantly lower than here." Last night, Merseyside Police said they could not comment on the possibility of a cannabis cafe in Liverpool until it was actually opened. A spokeswoman said: " Obviously we are in a similar situation to Manchester. Cannabis is illegal so anyone found in possession will be arrested." But Aigburth's Robert Gartside, a multiple sclerosis sufferer recently fined £25 for cannabis possession, said it would be good news for those using the drug to ease pain. Mr Gartside said: "I think it's an excellent idea. I'm hoping it will have a similar atmosphere to the cafe in Stockport. "A cafe would have a social element to it and put MS sufferers in touch with others who already use cannabis."
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