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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Concern grows over cannabis cafe plan
Fife Free Press
Thursday 11 Apr 2002 A CANNABIS coffee shop planned for Kirkcaldy has come a step closer despite opposition from police. Although a venue is yet to be finalised, a dotcom name has been registered for the cafe which would allow people to smoke the drug on the premises. Proprietor Andy not his real name announced that the Dutch-style cafe, due to open in October, would be called 'coffeeshop thc'. THC is an abbreviation for tetra hydro cannabol, one of the active ingredients in cannabis. The venture would be one of Scotland's first cannabis cafes. ut Fife Police have warned it would still be illegal despite an expected change in the law. And Councillor George Leslie predicted, when the plans were unveiled in the Fife Free Press last month, that trouble could ensue if people were allowed to smoke the substance freely. He also warned teenagers could get into the cafe despite an over-18 policy. Laws on the class B drug are expected to be relaxed soon following home secretary David Blunkett's plans to reclassify it to C. This would make prosecution unlikely for those in possession of small amounts of the drug, also known as marijuana or hashish. Andy, a father-of-two from Fife, is the administrator of MMCO-Scotland, which supplies cannabis to medicinal users around the country. He said his plans were definite and added: ''Hopefully by the time October comes Fife Police, the Scottish Executive and the UK Government will realise the war on cannabis is over.'' The cafe in Kirkcaldy would be like any other, selling food and non- alcoholic drinks, but it would have a separate private members' lounge where people could use their own cannabis. But Mr Leslie, whose Smeaton and Overton ward has a particular problem with drug abuse, said: ''I wouldn't like to see a place where people can smoke cannabis indiscriminately. ''There are those who need to get relief from illnesses such as multiple sclerosis but there are also those who take cannabis and then go on to heroin and other drugs. ''I see too much trouble with drugs in general and I would rather see things where medical needs were administered by doctors.'' Sergeant Derek Paxton said: ''As things stand at the moment there's no way we would accept this. ''Possession of cannabis is still a criminal offence and I'm not aware of any strategy being in place for if the law does change.''
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