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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Warnings as cops raid city cannabis cafe
Andy Raingold The Student, Edinburgh
Tuesday 03 Feb 2004 CANNABIS'S RECLASSIFICATION from a class B to a class C drug last week left both the police and public across the UK confused. This was highlighted when police arrested three people at the opening of Edinburgh's first cannabis cafe. The confusion has arisen because of the discrepancy between the way the reclassification of the drug is being implemented on different sides of the border. Police forces in England and Wales are unlikely to make arrests for possession of small quantities of the drug. However, Scottish police have been ordered to continue to arrest all those with cannabis-related offences and report them to the Procurator Fiscal. Downgrade Indeed, the downgrading has had little impact on policing the drug's use in Scotland. This will come as a big surprise to Scottish cannabis users, many of whom had assumed that the reclassification would mean a more liberal attitude towards its use. A spokeswoman for Lothian and Borders police asserted: 'Reclassification does not mean declassification'. She told Student: 'The offence [cannabis use] has been slightly downgraded but it is still an offence. 'Although police officers in England and Wales may choose to turn a blind eye to cannabis use as they see fit, the same is not true in Scotland.' Any presumptions of a more liberal approach to the enforcement of the drug were shattered when three people were arrested at the opening of the Purple Haze Cafe in Leith. Although the cafe does not permit the sale of cannabis, it does permit its patrons to use the drug on its premises. Arrests Despite warnings from the large police presence, who were handing out leaflets to customers on entry, people persisted in smoking the drug. The manager of the cafe, Paul Stewart, was one of the three arrested. He told Student: 'It was a shameful waste of police resources& (especially) considering there were seven junkies up the road smoking crack! 'Cannabis is a drug people smoke to relax. When you smoke a joint, who is the victim?' However, he did not blame the police, with whom he insists he has a good relationship. Indeed, he claimed: 'The Scottish police have been left to hang high and dry by Westminster and the executive.' He even quoted Tommy Sheridan of the SSP who joked: 'The only thing I've seen cannabis users attack is a fridge.' This raises the issue of why the implementation of the law is different within the United Kingdom. Resources The drug was originally reclassified so police resources could be 'freed up' and used to tackle 'more serious' offences. However, this is not happening in Scotland, which makes a mockery of the reclassification. Police resources are still being allocated to cannabis use, even though less of those arrested will be prosecuted. Paul Stewart believes that not only is this senseless but it is also unfair. The presumption of arrest has been taken away everywhere in the UK except Scotland, where police are still obliged to charge those caught in possession of the drug. He claims that this is in breach of the UN Human Rights Convention, which the UK has signed up to and which promotes equal treatment to all its citizens. He maintained: 'The continuation of zero tolerance in Scotland means effectively that we are being treated as second class citizens. 'It's just like the poll tax all over again, which was another illegal law, and was implemented in Scotland a year before the rest of the UK.' Movement Mr Stewart has even teamed up with Kevin Williamson of the SSP and drugs researcher Neil Montgomery to start their own movement, the Scottish Cannabis Coffeeshop Movement (SCCM), which aims to provide a safe environment to use the drug. As for his arrest, he expects to be charged with allowing cannabis to be smoked on his premises but has been offered free legal representation by human rights lawyers and will take his case all the way to the European Court if needs be. In the meantime, it appears that Scottish cannabis users may have to make a trip south of the border. --=======4D08682=======--
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