cannabisnews.com: First Cannabis Cafe Set To Test Law in Scotland





First Cannabis Cafe Set To Test Law in Scotland
Posted by CN Staff on December 13, 2003 at 18:10:16 PT
By Ian Johnston 
Source: Scotland On Sunday 
Scotland's first cannabis cafe is to open for business next month when the drug is downgraded to class C. The Purple Haze internet cafe, a former greasy spoon in Leith, will become a private members’ club in the evenings, where people will be allowed to bring small amounts of their own supply to smoke. The controversial move will present the first test of how the new law will be applied in Scotland. Cannabis cafes have operated in England for up to seven months before the owners faced prosecution.
However, there appeared to be little prospect that authorities in Scotland will allow the experiment to continue for long, with police insisting that allowing people to smoke cannabis on your premises would be illegal, with a penalty of up to 14 years in prison. Long-time cannabis smoker Paul Stewart, owner of the cafe, which used to be called the Ocean, said he believed turning it into a private club in the evenings would allow people to bring and smoke amounts of the drug deemed to be for "personal use". It is thought that people caught smoking cannabis at home will generally not face court action, but receive only a warning or a fiscal fine, unless there are aggravating factors such as previous offences. Stewart, 37, said: "I use cannabis and I’m going to allow people to smoke it. I’m not going to sell it, but I’ll allow people to bring their own. "I’m going to run this as a private party and make it members only with a £5 joining fee. I’m getting membership cards made just now. "I don’t think there’s going to be a problem, but I could be wrong. I could end up in jail." He said the cafe would operate as normal until 4pm and then become a private club. While cannabis would be allowed, hard drugs and alcohol would not. He plans to proclaim the changeover, planned for the end of January, with a banner saying ‘Free Weed Available Here’. Free Weed is a magazine about cannabis. However, a spokeswoman for Lothian and Borders Police said Stewart would face prosecution even if the cafe was run as a private club. "He would be committing an offence. It is an offence if you allow your premises to be used knowingly for the smoking of cannabis," she said. A Crown Office spokeswoman said the change from class B to C would make little difference in Scotland.Complete Title: First Cannabis Cafe Set To Test New Law in ScotlandSource: Scotland On Sunday (UK)Author: Ian Johnston Published: Sunday, December 14, 2003Copyright: 2003 The Scotsman Publications Ltd.Contact: letters_sos scotlandonsunday.comWebsite: http://www.scotlandonsunday.com/Related Articles:Scotland's First Cannabis Cafe Set to Openhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread12709.shtmlNews Poll Shows Huge Yes Vote for Drugs Café http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11498.shtml
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Comment #15 posted by Hope on December 16, 2003 at 07:17:03 PT
Max Fowers and freedom fighter
Max Flowers, I should have said and meant to say in comment 13 "Where would we be without you?" freedom fighter, you said, "Today, bear this in your mind, it does not really mattered if you smoked pot or not.."That is so true. We all know stories of drugs being planted on people by corrupt officers. "Throw down" drugs can be used on "clean" activists. At least twice I have had to bear an onslaught of confrontational police officers suspecting or just hoping I had drugs. One bunch wanted to search my house and another bunch wanted my car...for real.Both times I refused the search...and was still searched, via dog noses, in the car episode and separated from my husband so they could develop a "differing story" scenario. I was forced to have a long drawn out discussion, argument, lecture on the drug war, both times, with the belligerent fellows. The house search refusal was cause for lots of threats on their part. "If we come back with a warrant we'll have dogs and the search will mess your house up a lot more than if you let us do it now." Both times I told them that if they found any drugs it would have to be "throw down" drugs and it should have been clear that I didn’t suspect them personally of being above it. Considering the viciousness and hullabaloo surrounding the drug war and its issues, we are all at risk for becoming the targets of power mad corrupted officials. Cannabis has never made me ‘weak’ to use it. I like it but not well enough to go to jail for it. The reason I personally decided to speak out wasn’t because I liked marijuana enough to lay down my life for it, but because people were suffering and being persecuted unjustly. Seeing the behavior of our government wreak havoc on the lives of so many decent people is horrifying and not to speak up, not to stand up, would be wrong. Like Cannabis Enthusiast, I recognized that I personally could not speak nearly so boldly or protest so loudly if I knew that there was something in my pocket that could cause my wrists to legally be bound behind my back by a bunch of conscienceless, jack booted, terrorizing “maroons”. I am claustrophobic and perhaps am a bit more than normally concerned about the possibility of having my hands tied behind my back by anyone…uniformed or not.I think all of us are a vital part of the cause. We can’t all be bold and beautiful, but every word uttered or printed against the injustice of the drug war will bring us closer to reform.
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Comment #14 posted by freedom fighter on December 15, 2003 at 19:52:01 PT
Red Badge of Courage
To me,   least, anybody getting busted for growing or smokin the whacky weed carries this "Red Badge of Courage".I know it's not a fun "experience" to have someone who are suppose to be my neigbor, pointing guns at my head just becuz I grew a plant. Today, bear this in your mind, it does not really mattered if you smoked pot or not.. You still can be called a drug pusher or a terrorist these dayss....So what to do now? Sit back and eat some cookies and drink milk everyday?Nah! Gotta grow grow grow grow grow grow grow! You can always not consume the fruit of your labor but you sure damn know that you will not ever harm a soul by growin this tasty fruit for your sick neighbor.and tell your neighbors what you just did last weekend.What I really want to say is,Cannabis have never ever made me weak. The use of cannabis made me stronger.. ff
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Comment #13 posted by Hope on December 15, 2003 at 15:16:43 PT
Max Flowers
I thought your comment was wonderful. I meant every word I said. I do so admire and appreciate those so brave and bold that ...well that it is truly beautiful to behold. Where would we be without them? We need them to encourage us...to give us courage.Thank you.
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Comment #12 posted by Max Flowers on December 15, 2003 at 14:24:15 PT
Hope
Thanks Hope, I am not rich or powerful but one thing I am not is afraid of authority when that authority is plainly wrong. Spirit is the only thing they can't take away.I understand and agree 100%, and speaking of hope, Hope, I hope I did not offend "Cannabis Enthusiast" but rather hope I gave him some food for thought, nothing more.If his log-in had been "David" or something I probably wouldn't have commented so, but "if you say you are an enthusiast, show some enthusiasm" was my feeling at that moment.MF
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Comment #11 posted by Hope on December 15, 2003 at 14:03:04 PT
Max Flowers
I'm so thankful for the truly bold, brave, and beautiful among us. And the intelligent, and the kind...I could go on and on but I believe you likely understand me. We are diverse. Some of us really can't be bold and beautiful and some of us can only manage to be so fleetingly. 
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Comment #10 posted by Max Flowers on December 15, 2003 at 12:50:40 PT
Cannabis Fence-Sitter
I respect any person's decisions regarding their own life and health and mind, but to me Cannabis Enthusiast I'm sorry but you just sound like the typical fearful person who is too afraid to stand up for what they really want to do. Wait til' it's legal?? If everyone had that attitude, we'd *really* be screwed. You kept talking about the laws in your post, and while I think it's good to do whatever you can to change immoral laws, I also believe that if you know what you want to do, and you know it's not harmful or immoral, but there's a law against it, screw the law and do it anyway if it is a fundamental right (like using a plant). That's how I live my life (by way of contrast) and it's just my opinion.An ex-girlfriend who influenced me when we were together taught me (again, by way of contrast) that the US government has been subverted and is no longer by and of and for the People, but rather the tool of an obscene plutocracy.I say if you are truly an enthusiast of cannabis, you will champion its cause rather than hide from it because some idiot cop or congressman doesn't think you should be touching it. Oh yes and if you feel weak after smoking it, I submit that that is probably a physiological artifact of your guilt or fear. You can channel its effects, it is all in your mind; it can make you feel strong if you will it to.MF
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Comment #9 posted by Hope on December 15, 2003 at 10:40:13 PT
Cannabis Enthusiast 
I found your comment well stated and interesting. I agreed on a very personal level with much of it.You said, “The personal reasons I quit cannabis are that I feel I should not spend my time looking for something that will get me arrested if I am caught (I don’t like always worrying about police officers handcuffing me). I also do not like using people simply for the task of going to get cannabis for me. I feel kind of weird buying alcohol at the liquor store or gas station, but I still do it once in awhile to relax at home with my girlfriend.”Your statement has the ring of reason, understanding, flexibility and truth to it.“Maybe my girlfriend has just taught me too many morals or life strategies”Of course not! One of life’s best “strategies” is to learn to discern. Morals are just your understanding of what’s good, not so good, right, wrong, or appallingly wrong. Having morals, standards, is good. They mean you are thinking and realize the importance of knowing, of being able to decide, discern, between whether a thing is right or wrong or good or bad or not. Having morals is good, but like everything…even very good things…it can go bad. Morals go bad when we try to impose them on others…sometimes as laws. Sharing ones morals is fine. Making life unnecessarily unpleasant or miserable in an effort to force others to conform to debatable standards is immoral in my code. Exposed to scrutiny in the harsh light of reality and, now, hindsight, prohibition of consumables has always and likely always will rank as a very bad idea. “I feel that cannabis makes me weak when I smoke it. It makes me not function on the level that the "strong and sober" majority does. Same with alcohol.”I agree. The weakness or disadvantage that comes from that situation can be for many, including myself, fear. Fear caused by possibly many things but illegality looms largely for many people…no one wants to get busted. Stealth is often required of the participant in the “smoke easy” culture created by prohibition. That fear and need for stealth…known as marijuana “induced” paranoia to pious prohibitionists, is reasonable. Fear, even at it’s slightest can be disturbing. Niggling fearfulness is a thorn in the side. Another thorn in the side is something some of us don’t need when we plan on speaking reasonably with our prohibitionist brothers and sisters. Fear often leads to hatred and it’s not usually to the advantage of reason to add even more hatred to a volatile mixture of ideas. Hatred and fear are the main weapons of prohibitionists. You’re decisions sound like well thought out tactics in this seemingly endless battle to resist the unnecessary carnage of prohibition.I feel so strongly about the drug war and it’s effects that the reasonable thing to do was be ready to speak out, with knowledge, at certain opportunities. Some people refuse to take you seriously if they even suspect that maybe you’ve been smoking the “whacky tobaccy”. I like to look them straight in the eye and tell them I have smoked it. That’s why I know the worst thing about it is the damage directly related to prohibition. I tell them…. eyeball to eyeball…. that I haven’t smoked in years, even though I believe marijuana/cannabis can be quite beneficial to some people some times. I tell them that no matter what they believe about the right or wrong of pleasure or suffering…that it is wrong to punish and persecute others because they enjoy this plant and it’s often wonderful effects.I’m appalled at prohibition and prohibitionists. 
 
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Comment #8 posted by Virgil on December 15, 2003 at 08:23:16 PT
Cannabis Enthusiast
I foremost regard using cannabis as an activity. Some people spend too much time watching sports or television in general. There is a great crisis upon us and people need to be devoted to the task of addressing it. People would do well to shift from their personal activities to this great crisis that needs people's actions.There is a huge culture of people that are in the activity of making money. They look at someone using laughing grass as someone that is not worshipping there God, which is money. It is one of the groups that is easily manipulated with the disinformation campaign by the USG. That is why industry accepts and promotes drug testing. They are not for spending money without cause and what they want is to herd people into the activity of making money, for employee and employeer alike.The number one thing people should be communicating about the cannabis crusade by the USG is that there is a huge disinformation campaign. It is all tied into a larger effort on world domination by the USG. Iraq was all about global domination and it had its disinformation campaign that is still running. This closing paragraph is from an article on global domination at http://globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO312A.html A number of government agencies and intelligence units --with links to the Pentagon-remain actively involved in various components of the propaganda campaign. Realities are turned upside down. Acts of war are heralded as "humanitarian interventions" geared towards "regime change" and "the restoration of democracy". Military occupation and the killing of civilians are presented as "peace-keeping". The derogation of civil liberties --in the context of the so-called "anti-terrorist legislation"-- is portrayed as a means to providing "domestic security" and upholding civil liberties.
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Comment #7 posted by jose melendez on December 15, 2003 at 04:20:39 PT
cannabis enthusiast
The harm comes from the smoking and prohibition, not the plant. Try teas, cakes (supposedly LEGAL, bet they'll still try to press charges if they catch you) and extracts.Also, read Aesop's fable about the fox that lost his tail:http://www.bartleby.com/17/1/65.html
scared yet?
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Comment #6 posted by FoM on December 14, 2003 at 22:59:38 PT
Cannabis Enthusiast 
I believe that people should follow their convictions. I wish you good luck. 
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Comment #5 posted by Cannabis Enthusiast on December 14, 2003 at 22:45:17 PT
I quit cannabis until it is legal
I have quit cannabis until I can go down to the neighborhood coffee shop and purchase it with no fear of breaking the law.The personal reasons I quit cannabis are that I feel I should not spend my time looking for something that will get me arrested if I am caught (I dont like always worrying about police officers handcuffing me). I also do not like using people simply for the task of going to get cannabis for me. I feel kind of weird buying alcohol at the liquor store or gas station, but I still do it once in awhile to relax at home with my girlfriend. Same thing with cannabis.Maybe my girlfriend has just taught me too many morals or life strategies, but I always felt weak and powerless (against the sober, strong majority) and I always complained when in reality I could do absolutely nothing about changing the cannabis laws, other than vote if there happen to be propositions or whatnot on the ballot.If there are ballot referendums or legislation I can vote on to make cannabis legal, then I will do so.I feel that cannabis makes me weak when I smoke it. It makes me not function on the level that the "strong and sober" majority does. Same with alcohol. Why spend my life trying to hopelessly (other than voting for ballot initiatives) fight the system? The system is what the majority has voted for. And in this society the majority rules.I don't know. I just think it's time for me to stop pretending and lying to myself that I _NEED_ cannabis to function or get through day to day life.Just my two personal cents... doubt anyone will care about these personal views. :-/-CE
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Comment #4 posted by Virgil on December 14, 2003 at 18:43:21 PT
Pursuing the trivial
Leith is a community in Edinburgh. Here is the MapQuest link- http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?historyid=0 The distance from Leith to Stockport is 232 miles.Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland. Here is a live web cam- http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?historyid=0
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Comment #3 posted by Virgil on December 14, 2003 at 17:47:03 PT
The period between criminal and legal
There is something to consider at CEDRO- http://www.cedro-uva.org/lib/bruining.how.html This is the first part of the article.How to avoid criminalisation of Euro Cannabis, learning from the Dutch ExperienceA plea for depenalizing, yet controlling production of cannabis for private use in Europe by Wernard BruiningMy reasoning about a realistic, pragmatic cannabis policy in the Netherlands and in Europe is based on: Three assumptions
1. The war against cannabis is lost
Cannabis is an accepted drug to our youth, and they represent the future. The number of cannabisconsumers has never been so high and has constantly risen in the past 70 years of prohibition. It is time to think about peace. Governments have to accept a reality of the multi-drug using society and adapt to it. 2. Somewhere in future cannabis will be legal
History has seen a range of social prohibitive law’s, none of them lasted longer than a 100 years. Europe’s youth has accepted cannabis as a rather innocent drug and does not understand why governments maintain prohibition. Prohibition reduces the credibility of governments, and authorities in the eyes of the Europeans of tomorrow. 3. If the war on cannabis is lost, and production and consumption will be legal in future, we live now in an intermediate period
The challenge Europe faces is to get through this intermediate period with at least damage for our society as possible. So we have three assumptions.The war against cannabis is lost. 
Somewhere in the future, cannabis will be legal. 
We live in an intermediate period that ends with legalisation 
The cannabis avalanche
From the beginning of the nineties, an explosive growth of homegrown cannabis took place in the Netherlands. In less than a decade more than 80% of Dutch consumption of cannabis was produced in the Netherlands itself.In an attempt to visualize the speed of this event Mr. Adriaan Jansen, Phd of the Amsterdam University, came up with the metaphor of The Green Avalanche. Social changes are comparable to avalanches. You can’t stop them, only try to prevent societies to be completely overflown and destroyed.You can’t fight avalanches by just planting as many trees as possible in defence, you have to remove trees on other spots, offering the avalanche an attractive alternative route. A smart technique is to deliberately create manmade, relatively small, and therefore controllable avalanches, to avoid build up of snow and pressure. We live in the intermediate time that ends with legalisation, at the moment Europe faces a green avalanche. If Europe is smart, it will maintain certain restrictive laws, but allow enough small-scale production and consumption to avoid a build up of pressure in the cannabis market and at the same time control the avalanche. Dutch growshop wholesalers export an estimated 100 million euro per year. European growers multiply each euro invested many times a year. If we multiply the Dutch export of 100 million euro with a factor 5-10 we get an idea how big eurocannabis is at the moment, about 500 to a billion euro. Export of Dutch wholesalers is growing about 20-30% per year.New improved techniques enable cannabis cultivation on a very small scale such as cannabis closets. These small scale techniques enable almost everybody to grow and are hard to detect. And all of these growers and smokers ignore the law. This is the probably the biggest negative effect of prohibition, it creates citizens that learn to disobey the law. European governments structurally do not respect a considerable, expanding group of citizens, who in return do not respect the government and their laws. Prohibition is probably one of the key elements at the base of the constant decline of moral standards of citizens and governments. In the Netherlands a policeman cannot patrol the streets alone anymore, and in England, Bobbies have to bear arms. A policeman is not considered a citizens best friend anymore.
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Comment #2 posted by Sam Adams on December 13, 2003 at 21:22:18 PT
Virgil you're absolutely right
The government has always feared gatherings of the people.  If I'm not mistaken, various governments of England have tried to regulate and even ban taverns during different periods, as they were the breeding grounds for revolutions and populist movements.Which is of course why the US government has been steadily gaining in size and power since WWII and the suburbinization movement. With the people spread out in the McMansions, it's easy to forget the plight of your neighbor and instead focus on your home-theater system. 
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Comment #1 posted by Virgil on December 13, 2003 at 20:00:42 PT
It's me again
After Rainbow Farms on the first days of September in 2001, there was big talk of the Dutch Experience opening in Stockport, Manchester. The website went up and there was hope of having cameras, but that failed to happen. The Dutch Experience opened on September 15, 2001- http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread10914.shtml - and began a kind of uprising. The events of 9/11 put a damper on things, but there were marches and protest all over the UK- http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread11000.shtmlThe thing is that people know what cannabis is and they know that the soapbar that is popular in the UK is unhealthy. The people in Stockport could witness the usual Saturday night brawls while everyone knew such a thing was not going to happen at the Dutch Experience. The only things that could be called incidents were when the police disturbed the peace. Now in small town Stockport people read the paper to see that they got the story right. The cannabis community that saw the MS victims come and give testimony all knew of the historic situation and the contribution that would be made to society if they kept it open. Even after it was closed the small group had grown a bond that kept vigils going in the park for sometime. There was a melding that came from the heat put on closing the DE down. There are other places that have opened in the UK but they survive by being quite and even some of them found heat.There is an important consideration in that Scotland can do what it wants, but they have all sat on their island talking about how stupid the laws are while the drunks have their own places. It will only take a few days of chat and introductions and these people will stand up to the police, because they know the laws suck and the media spins. Someone might look up the population of this town, but certainly the police do not really want to go home and hear about arresting a friend of the family's son for smoking laughing grass. There is going to be a stand somewhere at sometime.It would also be interesting to know how far this is from Stockport, because these people are still for the cause and will rent a bus.This is probably a big deal. It is all too much and this might be the stand that will not fall. Any person that uses cannabis knows what it does to his dignity and his self-esteem to be outside the law when it is within his freedom and the law is wrong.The stand here might not stand, but I would not want to take that bet. The new laws are still terrible. The pissing around is over. The laws are bad and the laws will fall. The battle for freedom is on. The laws are there own terror and people are now instructed to join the war on terror. Blair and company better chose their battles wisely. They might pick one that does them in.
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