|
Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
|
|
UK: Dope cafe set to be an open and shut case
Alan McEwen Edinburgh Evening News
Tuesday 27 Jan 2004 A CANNABIS cafe is set to open in Edinburgh this week - but faces being immediately closed down. The Purple Haze Internet Cafe in Leith will become a private club where people can bring small amounts of cannabis to smoke. It will officially open its doors on Thursday when the drug is downgraded to a class C narcotic. But the police have already declared their intention to arrest anyone who allows users to smoke cannabis on their premises. Owner Paul Stewart claimed the cafe would be run with a "responsible attitude", placing an emphasis on providing drug education. Mr Stewart, 37, said: "The police have said that they are going to arrest me, but I don't honestly know what will happen. "People will be able to bring their own cannabis here and smoke it while playing a game of chess or sending an e-mail. We also want to provide information about cannabis." Mr Stewart added that the cafe, in Portland Place, will ban the use of tobacco on the premises in an effort to deflect recent health concerns put forward by the British Medical Association. It will be the first such establishment to open in Scotland and will test how the new laws are to be applied by police. A spokesman for Lothian and Borders Police said today all offences would be reported to the procurator fiscal. "The possession and supply of cannabis is illegal," he said. "It is also illegal for the occupier or any person concerned in the management of the premises to knowingly allow any person to smoke or supply cannabis." Independent MSP Margo MacDonald described the reclassification as "hopelessly confusing", and said the police would be placed in an "awkward" situation if they tried to make arrests at Purple Haze. She said: "There will be people there eating cannabis cakes, rather than smoking it. That could mean the police have to test all the cakes in the shop which would be a waste of time and money." Tory justice spokeswoman Annabel Goldie added: "This move by Purple Haze is a clear sign the Government's mixed messages on drugs have led some people to believe they can now ignore the law of the land. They cannot." The cafe will open to cannabis users at 4pm on Thursday. Meanwhile, cult book publisher Kevin Williamson - who discovered Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh - was today set to launch the Scottish Cannabis Coffeeshops Movement (SCCM) alongside Mr Stewart and drugs researcher Neil Montgomery. They were due to hold a press conference at the Scottish Parliament this morning to which all 129 MSPs were invited. Mr Williamson, 42, drugs spokesman for the Scottish Socialist Party, said: "The purpose of SCCM will be to establish cannabis-tolerant zones across Scotland."
After you have finished reading this article you can click here to go back.
|
This page was created by the Cannabis Campaigners' Guide.
Feel free to link to this page!