Restore-Digest Tuesday, April 23 2002 Volume 2002 : Number 075

UK: It's No Pipe Dream - Cannabis Cafes Open In U.K.Canada: Feds Shelve Medical MarijuanaThe Drug Race and Party to End the War on Drugsundefinedundefined

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Sent: Tuesday, April 23, 2002 7:14 PM
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Subject: Restore-Digest V2002 #75

Restore-Digest        Tuesday, April 23 2002        Volume 2002 : Number 075



UK: It's No Pipe Dream - Cannabis Cafes Open In U.K.
Canada: Feds Shelve Medical Marijuana
The Drug Race and Party to End the War on Drugs

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Date: Mon, 22 Apr 2002 19:05:18 -0700
From: "D. Paul Stanford" <stanford@crrh.org>
Subject: UK: It's No Pipe Dream - Cannabis Cafes Open In U.K.

Newshawk: Al Robison
Pubdate: Mon, 22 Apr 2002
Source: Houston Chronicle (TX)
Copyright: 2002 Houston Chronicle Publishing Company Division, Hearst Newspaper
Contact: viewpoints@chron.com
Website: http://www.chron.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/198
Author: Carl Honore

IT'S NO PIPE DREAM: CANNABIS CAFES OPEN IN U.K.

Relaxation Of Soft Drug Laws Has Police Looking The Other Way

STOCKPORT, England - It seems at first like an ordinary coffee house.
Customers linger over lattes, chatting, reading newspapers, playing cards
or chess. Hip music pulses from the sound system. A haze of smoke dances in
the air.

But take a deep breath, and you realize that many customers are smoking
marijuana or hashish.

Opened last September in the unremarkable northern town of Stockport, the
shop, Dutch Experience, is the first so-called "cannabis cafe" in Britain.
This month, a similar establishment opened in the coastal city of Bournemouth.

Even though pot remains technically illegal, more of the shops are sure to
follow. With the British government set to loosen laws on soft drugs, a
dozen entrepreneurs across the land have vowed to open coffee houses that
serve marijuana in all its forms.

Not everyone likes the idea of pot parlors springing up on British streets,
but marijuana fans feel their favorite plant is finally starting to win
acceptance.

"The tide is turning," said Bee, a social worker who came to smoke grass at
Dutch Experience on a recent afternoon.

"One day, having a joint in public will be as normal as having a
cigarette," she added, declining to give her last name.

Britain is not raising the white flag in the war on drugs. On the contrary,
the government is clamping down on hard drugs such as heroin and cocaine.
But there is a clear trend toward tolerating marijuana, mainly as a way to
free up police to fight other crimes.

In the coming months, the British government is expected to reclassify
marijuana so that possession is no longer an arrestable offense. That would
not be the same as legalization. Technically, smoking and selling soft
drugs would still be against the law, as would cannabis cafes. But, in
practice, police would have greater scope to turn a blind eye.

Liberalization fits the mood of the times. From metropolitan dinner parties
to beach-side barbecues, marijuana is widely used in Britain. Even Prince
Harry, 17, was recently caught smoking a joint.

Increasingly, the British are turning against the traditional view that
marijuana is unhealthy and that it is a stepping stone to hard drugs. A
government medical report recently deemed pot less dangerous than alcohol
or tobacco. Other evidence suggests that smoking a joint is a good form of
pain relief for some diseases.

With so much alcohol-fueled violence in Britain, many hail marijuana as a
kinder, gentler way to have fun.

"In the pubs, people get drunk and have fights, but when you smoke weed,
you don't feel like going out and smashing up the town," said Bee. "I think
the police don't mind us being here because we don't cause any trouble."

Across Britain, pressure is mounting to make marijuana completely legal. By
taking soft drugs out of the hands of criminal dealers, say campaigners,
you remove the link to hard drugs. Politicians, led by the Liberal
Democrats, the country's third-largest party, as well as some police chiefs
and newspaper editors support the legalization of marijuana.

In the meantime, though, British pot smokers are left to walk a legal
tightrope. The authorities raided Stockport's Dutch Experience three times
between September and January, and the owner has been charged with
supplying banned substances. Since the beginning of January, however, the
police have stayed away.

To keep on the right side of official tolerance, Dutch Experience is very
discreet. Tucked away in a small shopping arcade, the cafe does not
advertise, serves no alcohol, turns away anyone under the age of 18 and
requires photo ID for access to its Members' Room, where most of the action
takes place.

Staffers do not admit openly that marijuana is smoked or sold on the
premises, preferring instead a nod or a wink.

"All I can tell you is that we are a Dutch-style coffee shop, and leave you
to put two and two together," said one staffer, with a meaningful smile. In
the liberal-minded Netherlands, adults are permitted to smoke pot in
licensed establishments known euphemistically as "coffee shops."

Despite all the cloak-and-dagger coyness, though, Stockport's Dutch
Experience looks like a shrine to getting high. Fake marijuana leaves and
psychedelic ornaments dangle from the ceiling. A Union Jack with a drawing
of Queen Elizabeth smoking a joint hangs outside the toilets. At the
counter, pot smokers can buy their favorite munchies: Mars bars, peanuts,
muffins.

Open daily from 11 a.m. until 11 p.m., the cafe draws a mixed crowd.
Plumbers rub shoulders with tourists, social workers and yuppies. One
78-year-old woman said she smokes grass here as a cure for insomnia.

On a recent afternoon, the cafe was packed with people rolling joints,
stuffing weed into pipes and inhaling deeply. Some stared into space with
glassy eyes. Others talked earnestly about the meaning of life. Everyone
was full of peace and good will.

In the Members' Room, a young man with yellow teeth sold tiny bags of
marijuana from a black toolbox. On the menu were Moroccan hashish and
Organic English Strong Weed. Lebanese gold resin was on order for later in
the week.

Everything was cheaper and cleaner than it would be on the street,
customers said.

A couple of tables away, Bee was on cloud nine. "It's so nice to have a
place where you can smoke good stuff, chill out and chat to your mates,"
she said, puffing on a fat joint.

At the same table , a woman in a wheelchair was sucking smoke from a
water-based pipe. Marijuana, she said, made her multiple sclerosis easier
to bear. "It relaxes the muscles and takes some of the pain away."

In Stockport, a city whose only claim to fame until now was a hat museum,
there is little opposition to the Dutch Experience. The town council, like
the police in recent months, seems content to look the other way.

At the hair salon next door, owner Norman Collins said he saw no reason to
make a fuss.

"I'm totally fine with it," he shrugged. "Only people who are completely
ignorant could object to a place like this."

To cash in on that laissez-faire attitude, the owner of a leading sushi
chain and other entrepreneurs have said they plan to open "cannabis cafes."
Many have flown to the Netherlands to learn the tricks of the trade: how to
manage a Dutch-style coffee shop, how to spot different types of weed, how
to handle police and local authorities.

Some will face resistance. In Bournemouth, one City Council member is
campaigning against the cannabis cafe there. Nevertheless, Britain's pot
smokers seem more willing than ever to fight for the right to puff in public.

At the Dutch Experience in Stockport, the mellow mood is tinged with defiance.

"They can throw us in jail or put a bomb under us, but nothing will stop us
now," said Bee. "We'll go on smoking here whether people like it or not."
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart

CRRH is working to regulate and tax the sale of cannabis to adults like 
alcohol, allow doctors to recommend cannabis through pharmacies and restore 
the unregulated production of industrial hemp.

*Campaign for the Restoration and Regulation of Hemp*
mail:     CRRH ; P.O. Box 86741 ; Portland, OR 97286 USA
email:   crrh@crrh.org
phone:  (503) 235-4606
fax:       (503) 235-0120
web:     http://www.crrh.org/

------------------------------
Date: Tue, 23 Apr 2002 19:08:55 -0700
From: "D. Paul Stanford" <stanford@crrh.org>
Subject: Canada: Feds Shelve Medical Marijuana

Newshawk: puff_tuff
Pubdate: Tue, 23 Apr 2002
Source: Winnipeg Free Press (CN MB)
Copyright: 2002 Winnipeg Free Press
Contact: letters@freepress.mb.ca
Website: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/502
Author: Paul Samyn

FEDS SHELVE MEDICAL MARIJUANA

OTTAWA -- Canada's first crop of medicinal marijuana grown deep within a
Flin Flon mine shaft is suddenly no longer ready to be toked and Health
Canada has no idea when its much-ballyhooed joints will be in the hands of
waiting patients.

In a surprising turnaround for the internationally ground-breaking project,
distribution plans are being put on hold for clinical trials.

"We need to fully understand what the risks and benefits are," Farah
Mohamed, a spokeswoman for Health Minister Anne McLellan said yesterday.

Mohamed denied there has been any change in policy or process to the
medicinal marijuana program since McLellan took over the file from Allan
Rock in January's cabinet shuffle.

But in December, Health Canada announced the Manitoba-grown marijuana had
been given the green light after extensive testing and the only step
remaining was to ready a distribution system for the pot.

"The plan is proceeding on schedule," one official said of the program
shortly before Christmas. "Health Canada now plans to contact the 680
patients to see if they are interested." Mohamed yesterday said there is no
timeline in place for when the pot will be cleared for use and distributed
to registered patients.

"The only timeline which guides us is making sure the steps are followed to
mitigate the risks," she said.

NDP health critic Judy Wasylycia-Leis said the program is definitely being
delayed and is further evidence of chaos within the department.

"Short of a change of policy, there is no reason why this program should be
on hold," Wasylycia-Leis (Winnipeg North-Centre) said.

Wasylycia-Leis said the change of heart on medicinal marijuana is yet
another example of McLellan having to clean up messes left behind by Rock.
(McLellan also took over from Rock as justice minister after he was roundly
criticized for a controversial gun-control law.)

"The medicinal marijuana program was introduced with such fanfare by
minister Rock and yet once again, things are being left in limbo," she
said. Prairie Plant Systems, the Saskatoon-based firm that won the
$5.7-million contract to cultivate the pot, wasn't commenting yesterday on
the program or its crop.

Health Canada's compassionate marijuana program, introduced last summer,
allows the terminally ill and those suffering from serious medical
conditions such as multiple sclerosis, AIDS/HIV and epilepsy to possess and
even grow marijuana for therapeutic purposes.

In December, Health Canada said its distribution system, which may make use
of pharmacies, will depend on how many eligible patients opt for the Flin
Flon-grown pot.
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Beth

CRRH is working to regulate and tax the sale of cannabis to adults like 
alcohol, allow doctors to recommend cannabis through pharmacies and restore 
the unregulated production of industrial hemp.

*Campaign for the Restoration and Regulation of Hemp*
mail:     CRRH ; P.O. Box 86741 ; Portland, OR 97286 USA
email:   crrh@crrh.org
phone:  (503) 235-4606
fax:       (503) 235-0120
web:     http://www.crrh.org/

------------------------------
Date: Tue, 23 Apr 2002 19:17:26 -0700
From: "D. Paul Stanford" <stanford@crrh.org>
Subject: The Drug Race and Party to End the War on Drugs

Hi all,
     This is an illustrated report on the Drug War Race and Party held on
4-20 here in NYC. Prohibition is all pervasive in the US, even at a party
dedicated to drawing attention to how stupid the War on Drugs is.
Peace,
Preston Peet
ptpeet@nyc.rr.com

http://www.drugwar.com/pdrugrace.shtm

The Drug Race And Party to End the War on Drugs

text and photos by Preston Peet- special to Drugwar.com

April 23, 2002

Despite rain and some enthusiastic security guards, the combined Drug War
Race and Party held April 20, 2002 in New York City was a triumph of will on
zero budget. With a bicycle race in the afternoon simulating the day in the
life of a NYC drug delivering bicycle courier, and a party that night,
hundreds of people helped put the event together and came out to show
support for an end to the War on Drugs.

Organized by Valerie Vande Panne, Ana da Gama, and Joker, the event was held
to benefit the Drug War Awareness Project, a new drug reform organization
based in NYC dedicated to making people aware, by utilizing art and
education, of the horrendous damages caused by the War on Drugs.

snip-
Read Complete Article and see photos at above URL
Peace,
Preston Peet
ptpeet@nyc.rr.com

CRRH is working to regulate and tax the sale of cannabis to adults like 
alcohol, allow doctors to recommend cannabis through pharmacies and restore 
the unregulated production of industrial hemp.

*Campaign for the Restoration and Regulation of Hemp*
mail:     CRRH ; P.O. Box 86741 ; Portland, OR 97286 USA
email:   crrh@crrh.org
phone:  (503) 235-4606
fax:       (503) 235-0120
web:     http://www.crrh.org/

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End of Restore-Digest V2002 #75
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