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| Raid Spoils Fun at Britain's First Cannabis Cafe |
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Posted by FoM on September 16, 2001 at 18:42:39 PT Editorial Source: Sunday Times 
Once the smoke had cleared, an experiment to open Britain's first "cannabis cafe" was deemed to have ended in farce yesterday, writes Maurice Chittenden. Police raided the Dutch Experience cafe in Stockport, Greater Manchester, minutes before a ribbon could be cut in a ceremony involving 50 British and Dutch pro-cannabis campaigners. Colin Davies, 44, a multiple sclerosis victim who admits to smoking the drug to avoid back pain, had told police that he planned to open the cafe to provide drugs to fellow sufferers on a non-profit basis. When a plain-clothes detective mingling with journalists and customers revealed his identity, Davies rushed to the door demanding to see a search warrant and was involved in a scuffle with a uniformed officer. He greeted a woman in a wheelchair outside and then pushed her into the cafe, saying: "She is a sick woman and needs cannabis to relieve her pain." A female detective tried to seize a suspect cigarette from Davies's lips as he puffed on it. Another scuffle broke out and Davies slumped to the floor beneath a "legalise cannabis" poster. He began yelling at police: "You are hurting me. You are preventing us from trying to help people." As he was led away by two women detectives, supporters, six of them in wheelchairs, jeered and chanted "free the weed". One shouted: "Don't hurt him. He's a healer, not a dealer." Many of them puffed on cannabis cigarettes in open defiance of the police. Greater Manchester police said Davies, a retired joiner, had been arrested for possessing cannabis "with intent to supply it to others". A spokesman said: "In the face of overt and challenging behaviour, which amounts to intention to break the law, our stance will be one of enforcement." Five Dutch people were also arrested. They included Wernard Bruining, 51, who opened the world's first cannabis cafe in Amsterdam about 25 years ago. Before his arrest, Davies, who once handed the Queen a cannabis plant disguised as a bouquet, said he found the drug was beneficial as a painkiller. Chris Hyde, 36, from Kidderminster, Worcestershire, who is on crutches because of a rare condition involving the fusing of muscle joints, described Davies as "a martyr". "It's time there was a true adult debate on the subject," he said. "Today the police manhandled a sick man to the floor. I myself was searched. I am absolutely disgusted." Source: Sunday Times (UK) Related Articles & Web Site: The Dutch Experience Cannabis Cafe Campaigner Freed Melee as Cannabis Cafe Opens Dutch-Style Cannabis Cafe Opens in Britain Police Vow To Close Amsterdam Soft Drug Café Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help |
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| Comment #6 posted by Charlie on September 17, 2001 at 19:15:07 PT |
| You would think that by now after the horrific events of last week, the civilized world will come to realize that cannabis users, for whatever purpose, are not the enemy. The 80 fbi agents and leo that surrounded the Rainbow farm and murdered 2 men armed with 22 rifles in an effort to keep what was theirs, could have been busy tracking down terrorists, for crying out loud. I wonder if they'll ask eager teens and 20 somethings to pee in a bottle and pass the wiz quiz before they can sign up to fight for their country? Free the weed. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #5 posted by E. Johnson on September 17, 2001 at 12:36:08 PT |
| A class of awards for science publications such as Scientific American, Nature, New Scientist etc. One could be called The Truth Shall Set You Free award which for example could cover the case where Scientific American printed an article claiming that the TRULY scientific resolution of the marijuana problem would be to adapt cannabinoids to Big Pharm and use science to get rid of the marijuana "high", as opposed to using science to challenge the scientific basis of Schedule I, which would only lead to controversy. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #4 posted by Patrick on September 17, 2001 at 11:24:23 PT |
| I think FoM offred to help anyone wanting to newshawk etc. This would be a great idea for another website. cannabisnews/awards.org??????? [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #3 posted by E. Johnson on September 17, 2001 at 10:29:51 PT |
| Let's give an annual award for the marijuana journalism and depictions of marijuana in the media. One award for which I think the competition would be fierce would the Most Cliche-Ridden Story of the Year. Another award could be the Worst Pot Pun of the Year, again the comp[etition should be stiff. Then of course there would have to be the Most Factual and Least Factual Story of the Year awards. And a special William Randolph Hearst Award for Scary Heavily Dramatized Fact Free Journalism, which I propose right now should be given to Time Magazine for their hysterical, overwrought, melodramatic and scientifically uninformed coverage of the Dread BC Bud. And also we should award a scientific calculator as a special Do Your Bloody Math award, which should be given to each and every publication that has printed that the average potency of marijuana has increased by twenty times since the sixties. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #2 posted by auto on September 17, 2001 at 08:38:31 PT |
| Only a matter of time...I think it would be safe to say there are a mass of people who are rethinking the prohibition of marijuana, especially when it is used for medicinal purposes. It is difficult to find a jury willing to convict someone for helping sick and dying people...for distributing a leafy green plant, which is unprocessed and found almost everywhere in this world. DA's and even judges will begin to tell police and authorites to stop arresting these types of cases because they turn out to be just a big waste of time and money. These cases usually end up being a PR nightmare. Stop the ignorance, stop the prohibition, stop the terrorism of marijuana users and doctors wishing to prescibe a better quality of life. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #1 posted by Rainbow on September 16, 2001 at 20:08:15 PT |
| The English will stop this attack on the sick soon. The local police are usually thought of well and the more they have to hurt the sick the more they will be disgusted with their jobs. I think it is different in England than here and I wonder where we went wrong as far as trying to help the sick. My Dad is suffering quite a bit and I am sooo mad at our government for being so short sighted. My only hope is that they feel the pain they are inflicting on others before they find relief in the cannabis plant. I hope they are smart enough to get the relief but I still want them to suffer a bit. The English will not in all sensibilities let this attack on the sick go on. The Orkney police raided a true healer and helper who sent many Cannabi chocolates. Courts have thrown out cases of medicianl marijuana. A trial of tolerance is taking place. Soon it will happen for those lucky people. I am sorry but evil rules most of the governments of the world. Cheers (I hope you can have) P.S. I wish you all enough [ Post Comment ] |
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