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UK: Cannabis cafe owner set to lose 25,000 UKP as he sells up

John Innes

The Scotsman

Wednesday 03 Mar 2004

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THE owner of Scotland's first cannabis cafe is selling up after only a
month in business.

Paul Stewart, 37, the owner of Purple Haze Cafe, blamed stress and ongoing
"harassment" by the authorities for the decision to sell the lease to the
premises on Portland Street, Leith.

But he also admitted his members-only cannabis club was attracting only
about a dozen people nightly and he expects to lose about 25,000 UKP on the
deal.

He said: "It's been very, very stressful, not just setting up the members'
club but running the cafe as well.

"I'm going to continue the struggle in a more central location and I want
to open a 'smart shop' selling legal highs to make people aware that they
don't have to take chemicals."

Since being arrested along with two customers only hours after the cafe
opened on 29 January, Mr Stewart says he has been visited twice weekly by
police and faced regular inspections by the environmental health department.

He claims to have invested 45,000 UKP in the former greasy spoon and is
considering offers over 20,000 UKP for the lease, which has eight years to run.

Members who paid 5 UKP to join Purple Haze were promised they would be able
to use cannabis on the premises, despite police warning the practice would
be illegal. Tommy Sheridan, the SSP leader, signed up to be a member of the
cafe, which drew more than 100 to its opening.

Mr Stewart added: "We did create a small piece of Scottish history and it
was the most talked about cafe in the world for a couple of weeks."

Alistair Ramsay, the director of Scotland Against Drugs, said: "There has
been a significant overestimate in the number of people who want to use
this kind of service and this demonstrates that anyone else trying to
flaunt the law is also likely to pay a pretty high cost."

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