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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Argument against...
Lancashire Evening Telegraph
Friday 02 Aug 2002 THE opening of Lancashire's first cannabis cafe will encourage people to smoke the drug, according to the detractors outraged at David Wilson's plans. Local councillors slammed David's plans to allow cannabis users to smoke the drug openly at his Real Jerk cafe, in Bolton Road, Ewood, Blackburn, as irresponsible while Blackburn MP and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw urged him to think again. Police have vowed to prosecute the 37-year-old if the plans go ahead. Detective Chief Inspector Neil Smith of Blackburn Police said officers will be keeping a close eye on the goings-on at the cafe. 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 Mr Straw said: "Jack deplores any effort to break the drugs law in his constituency or elsewhere and would urge the people behind this proposal to think again." Even though David has offered to meet anyone with concerns to discuss the situation and offer advice and guidance, Ewood ward councillor Maureen Bateson believes it is a bad idea. She is worried the cafe will be a magnet for drug-users and cause a nuisance for the residents. Coun Bateson said last month's proposals by Home Secretary David Blunkett to reclassify cannabis from Class B to a Class C - ranking it alongside steroids and painkillers - could lead to people thinking it is perfectly all right to smoke cannabis openly, when it is still illegal. Under the proposed reforms the police would have 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. The maximum sentence for dealing a Class C or Class B drug was raised from five years to 14 years. The Government's former drug tsar Keith Hellawell quit his post over the plans to relax the law, which also caused uproar among some East Lancashire MPs. Coun Bateson said: "I am not happy about this situation at all. "Although there was the recent proposals to change the legislation, the fact is it is still illegal and 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. "I don't think residents in the area will not be happy about this." Of the 120,000 people arrested for drugs in 1999, the year covered in the latest Home Office statistics, 68 per cent were for the possession of cannabis.
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