Search is on to find new cannabis cafe
7:00pm Friday 31st October 2008
Comments (23)THE search is on for another cannabis café in Boscombe with one campaigner calling for a ‘shooting gallery’ where drug addicts can inject themselves in safety.
Former Boscombe Forum chairman Gary Sherborne said: “We need somewhere where people who need cannabis for medical reasons can obtain it; otherwise they risk being prosecuted.
“I know one Southbourne grandmother who suffers from a bone wasting condition and needs cannabis to ease her pain.
“She puts it into cakes to help her sleep. Her son purchases the drug; her main concern is that he will get caught going to meet the supplier.
“There are many people who need cannabis to relieve the symptoms of various illnesses like multiple sclerosis. Why should they be treated like criminals?”
Gary, who is project leader at the Tenants’ Union office in Boscombe, added: “Cannabis should be decriminalised; then it wouldn’t be controlled by criminals.
“I prefer cannabis to alcohol and have never considered experimenting with other drugs. Surveys have shown that cannabis is less harmful than alcohol and nicotine.”
Having lived in Boscombe for a decade after moving from Shropshire, Gary has lost friends to heroin addiction.
He said: “Despite what people say, the drug problem here is massive. If you wander around you will see people huddled up, buying drugs from suppliers who come from as far as London to tout for trade.
“Boscombe is not unique; prescription drugs are also a problem with people selling their methadone and painkillers on the street. What we need is an honest debate; we have to face the fact that prohibition is not working.”
Gary was a founder member of the Dutch Experience cannabis café which caused controversy after opening at Station Approach in Boscombe in 2001.
“The cafe closed down after six months because the owners of the property evicted us and we couldn’t find a landlord who was prepared to give us a lease.
“Now we are searching for new premises which would double up as a medical centre. They could be licensed by the local authority and regulated.”
Gary is also in favour of “shooting galleries” being pioneered in Portugal, Spain and the Netherlands.
He said: “People go there for the drug of their choice; it’s somewhere they can inject safely with clean needles, away from the dangers of the streets.”
A Dorset police spokesman said: “We will take the appropriate action to ensure that any facility connected with the illegal supply or taking of drugs will be dealt with fully and correctly.”
Cannabis is currently classified as a Class C drug but the world’s most often used illegal drug is due to be reclassified to a Class B drug next year. The change is expected to come into law on January 26.
Currently, the maximum penalty for supplying, dealing, production and trafficking is 14 years imprisonment.
The maximum penalty for possession is two years but this could rise to five years.
The proposed change in the law would mean more robust enforcement against cannabis supply, new measures to tackle cannabis factories and tougher penalties for those caught supplying cannabis near schools and colleges, mental health institutions and prisons.
- Last month a cannabis café near Brighton was raided for the seventh time.
Five people are due to appear before Worthing magistrates on November 5.
Your Say YourThisisdorset
abfree, Norwich says...
10:05am Sat 1 Nov 08
Where there is no victim there should be no prosecution
CTW, Bournemouth says...
10:14am Sat 1 Nov 08
To use the analogy that it helps my pain (no disrespect to the ill) does not cut the chase. I know many people who used cannabis for this purpose, but I also new doctors who said the opposite. It is like giving blue smarties to a valium user. There are many good prescribed drugs on the market for pain releif. We need to rid our streets of the drug addiction and abuse, and clean up with a full on programme.
mikeman, Portland says...
11:24am Sat 1 Nov 08
After an initial surge things would settle down & it would become less trendy & it would dispense with the forbidden fruit element of drug taking. The only proviso I would make is that no NHS treatment be available to persistent drug users.
Laurie Marsh, brisbane says...
11:25am Sat 1 Nov 08
Ever heard of schizophrenia?
Regular users have a 30% higher risk of contracting this disease!
Ever seen what schizophrenia sufferers go through?
Gary Sherbourne, you "Prefer cannabis to alcohol".
In your next breath you promote "shooting galleries"
You dont by any chance see any connection between the two?
You state that people could go there for the "drug of their choice", safe from the "dangers" of the street!
You seem to forget that the people using the "chosen drug" have probably just gone through some criminal act to obtain this drug!
The very cost of these drugs almost forces people to either steal or "deal" to sustain their habit!
Project leader?
I would not let someone like you to lead my dog around the street!
No offence!
Well, just a little bit!
Winston Matthews, Horley says...
11:44am Sat 1 Nov 08
The worst attachment is that if you ALREADY have Mental Problems, Any substance may make your condition worse!
Prohibition didn't work with the drug Alcohol in the USA, history has taught us.
Legalisation is the way forward.
Drugs are a choice.
You may use the drug alcohol recreationally, medically or spiritually.
So why not other drugs?
Lets allow people to take them safely!
We could make the drug Alcohol illegal tomorrow, yet as I said prohibition doesn't work.
So lets legalise all drugs, as its up to the adult what they wish to to with there bodies.
This is a civil war with drugs, one drug taker against another.
Nicotine we know is the biggest killer, seems to get away with murder politically.
Wake up and smell the coffee, we are all drug takers.
Education is the key!
Laurie Marsh, brisbane says...
12:25pm Sat 1 Nov 08
No link huh?
After you have cleaned up after a few SZ suicides try telling that to the grieving parents!
So your solution is what?
Check out the likelyhood of each potential user to see if they are a "possible"?
I remember this bright uni student telling me how much cannabis helped him to "concentrate"!
He is now dead, he "moved on" to the heavy stuff!
I will ask you:-
(a) Do you take drugs? (you obviously do)
(b) do you feel "in control"? (of course)
(c) how old are you?
I have no wish to be rude but you sound like a very self confident person with very limited experience.
I hope that it does not come back to bite you!
Go in peace!
abfree, Norwich says...
2:39pm Sat 1 Nov 08
Laurie Marsh wrote:Of course - schizophrenia - worsened by things that are legal and things that are illegal - for a small minority of people.
O.K. to be a user?
Ever heard of schizophrenia?
Regular users have a 30% higher risk of contracting this disease!
Ever seen what schizophrenia sufferers go through?
Gary Sherbourne, you "Prefer cannabis to alcohol".
In your next breath you promote "shooting galleries"
You dont by any chance see any connection between the two?
You state that people could go there for the "drug of their choice", safe from the "dangers" of the street!
You seem to forget that the people using the "chosen drug" have probably just gone through some criminal act to obtain this drug!
The very cost of these drugs almost forces people to either steal or "deal" to sustain their habit!
Project leader?
I would not let someone like you to lead my dog around the street!
No offence!
Well, just a little bit!
For the rest of the users who are not detrimentally effected - it's OK.
If people experience benefits - as most cannabis users say they do - and do no harm - it is OK.
Those people you admirably sympathise with who have suffered - what has happened to them has been under prohibition which for some reason you wish to continue with. Yes they broke the law as do all cannabis users, but rather than trying to protect the users the prohibition puts them at increased risk through having to enter the world of crime to buy the stuff.
Take out the criminal gangs who profit so much by introducing adult cannabis outlets where quality and information is assured and profits taxed and that alone would solve so many problems associated with illegal supply.
And maybe if cannabis was as legal, those people who have problems could be spotted and helped sooner, without them having to fear arrest.
And of course the cost of cannabis would become irrelevant for those people who would be allowed to grow their own at home.
Of course I am not in favour of the use of heroin - but which would you rather have - a so-called "shooting gallery" where people coudl take stuff they got from a chemist through a doctor - or back-alley, public toilet, park lands scattered with needles by "criminals" who have had to steal to buy dodgy gear off crooks.
Because they guy you knew who died - he got his smack from a dealer - and prohibition itself creates dealers - there is an endless line of people willing to replace those that the police take out - and you support that??
Laurie Marsh, brisbane says...
3:43pm Sat 1 Nov 08
You too are a "user"!
How do you take this stuff?
With tobacco?
I keep hearing the same thing from immature "experts"
You dont mind using the nicotine addicts as "role models" although you all tell anyone who will listen that grass is not as addictive as tobacco!
The biggest problem anyone has of getting off of smoking drugs is the fact that you are also niccotine addicts!
"People experience benefits!"
Really?
The Weed makes everything "more focused"?
Crap!
If you want to see focus take a look at some drunk trying to put a key in a door!
He is in the same fools paradise that you are!
You lot all admit that you are crimminals by using this stuff but that is O.K.
I bet your parents would be proud of you!
You make a great point about these criminal "gangs". Most of the gang members are users who push the crap on to other people to feed their own habit!
You are all petty crims because you dont want to abide by the laws of the country!
If you dont want to live within the laws of the country either change them or leave!
You ARE the problem!
O.K. people time to attack!
jimmy1725, Bristol says...
4:25pm Sat 1 Nov 08
I'm 22 years old and have been smoking cannabis and hashish for about 8 years. I started smoking it as an alternative to my alcohol habit, which was destroying my health. By age 14 I was drinking anything up to 20 cans a day. As soon as I started smoking cannabis it was easier to give up drink by relieving the withdrawal symptoms and having a pleasent effect.
I've since done a great deal of research on cannabis and the drugs market, both legal and illegal. In our society we promote and sell all kinds of harmful drugs, most of which do harm if abused. There are more deaths from Aspirin than cannabis, because nobody has ever died as a result of using it.
As said, there is a very small percentage of people who may have a bad reaction to psychoactive substances if they are prone to mental illness, and those who experience a bad reaction find the symptoms reduce after quitting. It's easy to quit, as cannabis isn't physically addictive like caffeine or tobacco.
Many people benefit from medicinal cannabis use, as it is much healthier than the opioid painkillers provided by the nhs, it stimulates the appetite for those undergoing cancer treatment, and can help with depression and anxiety. It is an ignorant and uneducated opinion to state that people don't benefit from cannabis use.
I'm not a criminal, I just like to smoke a spliff in my own home without the fear of arrest. It's just a plant.
manana, southbourne says...
4:42pm Sat 1 Nov 08
jimmy1725, Bristol says...
5:14pm Sat 1 Nov 08
manana wrote:So you're saying drug rehabilitation is a bad thing? You just want to let them struggle on their own?
Everybody keeps saying that drug users need somewhere safe to take their drugs. So when theyve been to these shooting galleries and are completely off their head or comatose what do they do then? Go home? I doubt it. Why would they want to go somewhere to take drugs when they all seem perfectly happy in bus shelters etc!!!! A lot of addicts who say they want to get off drugs, go on methadone etc.. but how many go on to sell their methadone. May as well just give them the money!
Allowing addicts to use clean drugs in a safe environment sure beats the dangers of dirty needles and crime. Through these places they can get help to quit.
mikeman, Portland says...
6:13pm Sat 1 Nov 08
pachyderm, says...
9:09pm Sat 1 Nov 08
"Plans to transform eyesore squat hotel"
( 7:00pm Friday 31st October 2008 )
Laurie Marsh, brisbane says...
10:49am Sun 2 Nov 08
If I was the type of person who cried for a lost cause I would cry for you!
How the hell does a 14 year old kid afford to buy 20 cans of whatever every day?
Who the hell was supposed to be looking after you?
If what you say is true you were an abused child and are now suffering the consequences!
You are right, you are not a crimminal, you are a victim and you need help!
Just take a look at your comment and PLEASE show it to the filth that were responsible for raising you!
If you still care for these people dont show it to the police or they might end up where they belong!
cathyb, bournemouth says...
10:58am Sun 2 Nov 08
He is a rather tragic man with a sad past
He uses drugs (and sometimes alcohol) because of his psychological and emotional difficulties
He has no business inflicting his deviant views about illegal activity on Bournemouth
Mr Sherborne uses cannabis he is addicted to the stuff he allows drugs to control both him and his life
Psychologists would say he lacks self soothing skills and is unable to regulate his emotional state and therefore turns to a chemical
Sad troubled individuals that have been left with brain structures that are inadequate and need drugs are very unfortunate ppl
However why should the rest of us have to read their ramblings in the Daily Echo!
Fiona Muscliffe Throop, says...
2:15pm Sun 2 Nov 08
Indicating jis complete contempt for decent people
If they open such an offensive establishment in Boscombe I hope they all get thrown in prison
gerbil112, Poole says...
4:34pm Sun 2 Nov 08
No doubt it will be run as a business, and he will be profiting (leagally, this time) from the sad users addictions. I cannot imagine that he would have it run as a Charity, staffed by volunteers and counsellers.
jimmy1725, Bristol says...
12:30am Mon 3 Nov 08
Laurie Marsh wrote:Cheap cider costs roughly 60p per can which is affordable at any age, blame the small businesses that sold it too me, I was not an abused child, other than the self-abuse through excessive alcohol, it was my choice to drink. I was thrown out of school for dying my hair red, though I was getting all A's. Instead of school, I worked, all that I earned was spent on alcohol. Cannabis has relieved me of my alcohol addiction, and I've grown to enjoy cannabis instead, which is by far the less harmful, and it's non addictive.
jimmy1725,
If I was the type of person who cried for a lost cause I would cry for you!
How the hell does a 14 year old kid afford to buy 20 cans of whatever every day?
Who the hell was supposed to be looking after you?
If what you say is true you were an abused child and are now suffering the consequences!
You are right, you are not a crimminal, you are a victim and you need help!
Just take a look at your comment and PLEASE show it to the filth that were responsible for raising you!
If you still care for these people dont show it to the police or they might end up where they belong!
I am sorry that my comment led you to assume bad parenting, but there is always more than meets the eye.
jimmy1725, Bristol says...
12:58am Mon 3 Nov 08
Fiona Muscliffe Throop wrote:It's sad that you see this kind of establishment as offensive, perhaps your local pub, newsagent or pharmacy is as offensive?
Look at that man grinning in the shop window
Indicating jis complete contempt for decent people
If they open such an offensive establishment in Boscombe I hope they all get thrown in prison
These are human beings, not rodents to be thrown into a cage. I wish them the best of luck in helping those who seek safety in the suffering of addiction, and maybe those who visit the place will be able to get off the drug.
Prisons don't cure addictions, help and support does. By placing drug users in jail is pointless, by jailing those trying to help them is simply ridiculous!
*sigh* I wish that people would stop referring to cannabis as addictive, where do these false facts originate? Oh yes, Reefer Madness! Murder! Rape! Insanity! Meh.
jimmy1725, Bristol says...
1:16am Mon 3 Nov 08
mikeman wrote:Everyone uses drugs at some time in their lives, be it Aspirin, Alcohol, Cannabis or whatever. Some drugs are more addictive than others, some more harmful than others. All drugs should be legal, that way they can be controlled. It could be my opinion that all drunkards be shot on site, but what good would that do? People would still drink.
What sad miserable people drug addicts are, their life is so bad they have to get high to make it bearable. Would it not be a good idea to give them drugs very strong ones so that they can leave their sad miserable lives behind. After all we put animals out of their misery.
Whilst some may have problems with drug use, such as Heroin or Cocaine addiction, cannabis has more benefits than most other drugs. Thousands of people medicate with cannabis to allow them a better quality of life. What sad and miserable lives they would lead without this medicinal benefit.
manana, southbourne says...
6:34pm Mon 3 Nov 08
jimmy1725 wrote:No Im not saying rehabilitation is a bad thing but a majority of addicts do get offered help, providing they want it in the first place. Whats the methadone programme if its not for rehab. Allowing addicts to use clean drugs ina safe enrironment defeats the object and means most will never go into rehab.
manana wrote: Everybody keeps saying that drug users need somewhere safe to take their drugs. So when theyve been to these shooting galleries and are completely off their head or comatose what do they do then? Go home? I doubt it. Why would they want to go somewhere to take drugs when they all seem perfectly happy in bus shelters etc!!!! A lot of addicts who say they want to get off drugs, go on methadone etc.. but how many go on to sell their methadone. May as well just give them the money!So you're saying drug rehabilitation is a bad thing? You just want to let them struggle on their own? Allowing addicts to use clean drugs in a safe environment sure beats the dangers of dirty needles and crime. Through these places they can get help to quit.
Fiona Muscliffe Throop, says...
10:20am Wed 5 Nov 08
Similar people were convicted by the courts a few years ago in Manchester
''These men were laughing at the law but thankfully it appears justice has caught up with him at last," one police source said. "Davies has been a thorn in our side for years and we are very pleased he has got his just desserts."
In the three-week trial, the prosecution at Manchester's Minshull Street Crown Court claimed the café provided a "façade of moral legitimacy".
The volume of cash and drugs linked to Davies appears to have convinced the jury. Police had found £3,000 in cash in his Stockport flat at a time when he was drawing £56.25 a week in disability benefits.
Customs officials also seized £18,000 worth of cannabis at Dover in eight packages, complete with 430 ready-made joints – all destined for addresses linked to Davies, a former carpenter. A café volunteer was found to have £1,160 in cash on him, while 4.5lb of cannabis resin was discovered in the boot of Davies' Dutch business partner's car.
But Davies' customers, as in previous trials, testified that his £15 packets of super-skunk grass and Lebanese Gold resin were medicinal.
Davies claims the roots of his enterprise lie in an encounter in the smoking room at the Sheffield spinal injuries unit where, temporarily paralysed by breaks to three vertebrae, he met a paraplegic car crash victim who told him to try cannabis for the pain.
At a time when the Home Secretary, David Blunkett, was planning in effect to "decriminalise" cannabis, the authorities seemed resigned to Davies' trade. Davies will not be sentenced until he has faced two further trials on charges of perjury and possessing cannabis later this year. But his work has already left a legacy. His café has spawned plans for similar enterprises from Brighton to Glasgow.
Fingers crossed
CLOSED DOWN: The Dutch Experience cannabis cafe
CAMPAIGN: Gary Sherborne
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john-boi, Burnley says...
8:04am Sat 1 Nov 08