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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Cafe open for dope smoking
Jamie Diffley ThisIsLancashire
Thursday 01 Aug 2002 A CAFE boss today sparked outrage by opening Lancashire's first Amsterdam-style coffee shop -- allowing customers to smoke cannabis. David Wilson said he was openly defying the law and risking arrest by letting customers at his Real Jerk cafe and takeaway in Bolton Road, Ewood, Blackburn, use the drug. But he said people had a right to smoke what they wanted. Mr Wilson said no cannabis would be sold on the premises as customers would bring their own. Blackburn MP and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw today urged Mr Wilson to rethink his plans while police said they would prosecute him for allowing cannabis to be used in his shop. Ewood ward councillor Maureen Bateson said Mr Wilson was acting irresponsibly and encouraging drug use. Last month Home Secretary David Blunkett announced plans to reclassify cannabis from a Class B to a Class C drug, which would mean there would be no power of arrest for possession. Offenders could be dealt with on the spot by police and warned, cautioned or reported for summons, although "aggravated" cases of cannabis smoking -- blatantly in front of a police officer for example - - would still result in arrest. Father-of-two Mr Wilson, 37, a pro-cannabis campaigner, who organised cannabis picnics in Corporation Park, said everybody had a right to smoke "God's herbs." He said he would not allow under 18s to smoke in the cafe and admitted he expected the police to turn up at his doorstep. Mr Wilson, who edits a cannabis magazine called Hybrid News, said: "I'm not scared because I think you shouldn't prosecute people for smoking a herb. "It does no harm to anybody and people should be able to go a place which is cannabis friendly where they don't get hassle from the police." Detective Chief Inspector Neil Smith, of Blackburn, said officers would not turn a blind eye to activities at the Real Jerk. He said: "We would expect Mr Wilson to comply with the laws and legislation and if they are breached, we would act accordingly. "As far as I'm concerned, allowing your premises to be used for smoking cannabis is a criminal offence and we will be monitoring activities at the Real Jerk." A spokesman for Blackburn MP Jack Straw said: "Jack deplores any effort to break the drugs law in his constituency or elsewhere." The UK's first coffee shop opened in Stockport last year but was immediately closed after owner Colin Davies was arrested. A similar one is due to open in Rhyl, where Mr Wilson has just visited after speaking to the owners about its set-up. The idea is borrowed from Amsterdam's "coffee shops" where cannabis users can buy and smoke the drug openly. Although Mr Wilson, who has two young children, a daughter aged seven and a two-year-old boy, said he would not sell drugs on his premises he said he would help people with genuine medical reasons to obtain cannabis. And he claimed he is causing no harm and is willing to meet protesters to put his side across. "I am against hard drugs like heroin and crack cocaine and at no time will there be children smoking cannabis in this cafe. "I have the interest of the community at heart and I know this will go down well. "If parents want to talk about cannabis and want advice then they should come and ask for me and I will help them as much as possible." Of the 120,000 people arrested for drugs in 1999, the latest Home Office statistics, 68 per cent were for the possession of cannabis. Coun Maureen Bateson said: "I am not happy about this situation at all. "I would hope that the police will be taking appropriate action which I would support. "This is a public place and I think it's extremely irresponsible." Keith Owen, manager for Blackburn-based drug agency Lifeline, said cannabis was very different from hard drugs such as heroin and crack- cocaine and welcomed the government's recent re-classifications plans. But on the shop itself he said: "That is an issue for the police and trading standards. "If people want cannabis they will get it, that's the issue."
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