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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Cannabis joint finally stubbed out by police
The Worthing Herald Thursday 14 Aug 2003 SUN is shining, weather is sweet - the words of Bob Marley may have tempted cannabis cafe staff to shut up shop and enjoy the weather. But their hand was forced after yet another police raid on Buddies cafe. Staff have said that they will not re-open the Brougham Road cafe, as they have done after previous raids. A statement from the Legalise Cannabis Alliance, signed The Koffeeshop Crew, said: "After a year of trading we have decided to close Buddies koffeeshop. The week of police 'siege' proved that the police have finally won the war. It took them a year. We at the koffeeshop have a social conscience we cannot allow the limited resources that the police have, to be wasted on policing the koffeeshop. They would be better served looking after the rising crime rate here in Worthing." It went on to apologise to the people in East Worthing for the "traffic congestion and any other inconveniences caused". The statement claimed that the cafe was non-profit making and money raised went to the sick and disabled. The police raid culminated in one arrest, for breach of bail conditions, and the seizure of a quantity of cannabis. Buddies was closed the next day by staff operators, who cleared out the premises. Detective Inspector Nigel Brown said that he was "delighted" with the news and called the cafe "a running sore for the community". He added: "However, we are not complacent. Any attempt to re-open the premises or move to alternative premises will be immediately dealt with in the same fashion. In addition, only half of the job is complete as we still have a second cannabis cafe operating in Victoria Road. This will now receive the full attention of all the police resources dedicated to this operation - we will shut it down." The Victoria Road cafe is still open but police vans and officers have been stationed outside, stopping "customers" as they leave. Tim Loughton, MP for East Worthing, said he welcomed the demise of Buddies. "This news will come as a great relief to all my constituents living in and around East Worthing who have had to put up with this establishment for over a year now. What supposedly started as a political statement by the Legalise Cannabis Alliance developed into a nightmare for local people, attracting all sorts of undesirables intimidating passers by, sending out the wrong messages to impressionable youngsters and tying up a lot of police time and resources which should have been available to fight crime elsewhere in the town." He called for the law to be changed and said it currently allowed "them to stick two fingers up at the law".
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