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Dutch Experience 2 Cannabis Cafe RAIDED!

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
I missed this news last night, had a meeting, but here's the latest:

RAIDED Wed 25/4/02 about the time that BBC2's Money Programme was being transmitted.

The programme was called 'Cannabis Cafes UK' and featured footage of the DE2 setting-up

Three arrests; Jimmy Ward (management charges) and two others on possession charges.

The cafe plans to re-open 10am today - more news later!

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Do you know how many cannabis cafés there are in the UK???...just out of curiosity!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Only the two at the moment!

    Dutch Experience, stockport

    DE 2, Boscombe, Bournemouth.

    The race is on between Liverpool, N. Wales and us in Taunton for position three!

    <IMG SRC="biggrin.gif" border="0" ALT="icon">
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    What's your café gonna b called???...

    ...Dutch Experience 3?? <IMG SRC="rolleyes.gif" border="0" ALT="icon">
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I really enjoyed that programme last night <IMG SRC="smile.gif" border="0" ALT="icon"> Tell you what mate, this time in a couple of years you'll be a millionaire <IMG SRC="wink.gif" border="0" ALT="icon">
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    My partners want to use thw WHSpliff name for the cafe, we dedcided not to take the DE's Dutch backer's offer of support, after we found out he was a convicted bank robber.

    Fair enough, he served his time, but my partners weren't happy with any connection with the DE team - although we support what they are doing.

    Anyway, back to the news:

    Drugs swoop as cafe on TV

    Thursday 25 April 2002
    Dorset Daily Echo
    BOURNEMOUTH'S "cannabis coffee shop" was raided last night as the Boscombe site featured on prime time TV.
    Seven people were arrested for drug-related offences and a quantity of substances, believed to be cannabis, were seized.
    Police officers attended the cafe in Station Approach, Boscombe, at 7.30pm - just as BBC2's Money Programme was highlighting the issue of cannabis cafes, focusing on the Bournemouth venture.
    The coffee shop is run by James Ward.
    The 30-minute documentary followed Mr Ward to Amsterdam where he underwent a cannabis café management course.
    And the programme also highlighted his search for premises in Bournemouth.
    Chief Inspector Nick Hazelton of Bournemouth police said at 7.30pm yesterday the police executed a warrant under the Misuse of Drugs Act.
    "Twenty-five persons were in the premises, seven were arrested for drug-related offences," he added.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Why then ? Is it just typical fucking police been cunts ? were they supposing it would be full with people watching the programme <IMG SRC="mad.gif" border="0" ALT="icon">
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    To be honest I think they were trying to get across the message, that they seem to have got in Stockport now, bring in national media - and we'll have you!

    Trouble is the cops are forced to take action, after that sort of exposure - because they are left looking stupid for not enforcing the law!

    I think there was a very important message in the timing!

    Anyway;
    The review in today's Times:

    CANNABIS CAFES UK

    I have no need for a substance that makes me dopey and silly. Dopiness and silliness are part of my natural make-up. Why on earth would I need to smoke cannabis? That said, I do like a pint, and a few of those make me dopey and silly. However, alcohol also makes many other people aggressive
    and argumentative.

    Now, I'm trying not to be controversial here, but although I don't partake myself, I've yet to meet a combative pot- smoker. A snack-hungry one, yes. But somebody up for a scrap? No.

    Cannabis Cafés UK (BBC Two), a Money Programme special, followed the fortunes of Jimmy Ward, a Liverpudlian who lives in Bournemouth, a man desperate to set up his own Dutch-style coffee shop that sells cannabis. He has been selling dope since he was 14 - his Dad was a jailbird and Jimmy quickly became the main breadwinner - and, given the impending downgrading of cannabis to a class C drug (which apparently means that it is not an offence to carry some as long as it is for personal use), Ward wanted to set up a coffee shop.

    As an aside, why call them "coffee" shops? I have always found the disingenuousness of such language is bewildering.

    So off Ward went to Haarlem in Holland, where Nol Van Shaik, a rum character, runs a course for budding drug entrepreneurs. It was hilarious. Within minutes Ward, and his fellow wannabe hash retailers, were rendered speechless by the power of the research material.

    Apart from an unnamed portly fellow who claimed, in neo Loyd Grossman style, that one particular dried leaf smelt of lavender and that another was "rather citrussey" the rest, Jimmy included, were glassy-eyed and giggly.

    Van Shaik certainly confounded my rather lazy belief that cannabis smokers were unlikely to possess the necessary vim and vigour to be successful businessman. He already owns a chain of coffee shops in Holland and co-manages the UK's only coffee shop in Stockport (now that's what I call
    commuting!). He even has a pithy slogan for his business : "We are not a winery, we are a weedery." Indeed, our Grossmanesque cannabis proto-tycoon was rather impressed with Van Shaik and parroting probably the only phrase he remembered from reading How to be a Dope Millionaire claimed that: "Nol's way of doing things is an example of global best practice."

    Jimmy returned to Bournemouth to his partner and his six kids (another myth exploded!) thoroughly determined to establish a coffee shop. Now, I know Bournemouth has become rather trendy recently and is full of clubs and
    bars, but it is still essentially rather fusty and old-fashioned - there was absolutely no way that he was going to get away with opening a cannabis café. I don't know what he was thinking of; he must have been on drugs . .
    . oh, he was.

    Still, he gave it a go, and with some help from friends started to convert an old shed on a trading estate (mmm, nice ambience). Needless to say, the local media soon got wind of it and he was front page news. The police also took a dim view and quickly arrested Ward and his cohorts.

    But Ward, on release, was bloody but unbowed: "If they don't want me to open it they better lock me up good and proper." It was all handled with wry detachment by the programme-makers, who clearly thought Ward was a little bonkers, but, hey, madness makes good television.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Cannabis cafe raided by police

    BBC Southampton Online 25/4/02
    Seven people have been arrested for drug related offences after a cafe in Boscombe was raided last night.
    Dorset Police executed the warrant under the Misuse of Drugs Act at Unit 15 Station Approach, Boscombe, at 1940 last night.
    Twenty-five people were in the cafe, and seven were arrested. The police recovered a quantity of substances which they believe to be cannabis.
    The owner of the controversial 'cannabis cafe' in Boscombe near Bournemouth opened the doors to his cafe earlier this month despite police threats to close him down.
    Jimmy Ward wanted to open and sell organic marijuana over the counter in a Dutch-style cafe.
    The Drugs Advisory Council has recommended that cannabis be reduced from a Class B drug, to a Class C drug. The punishment for carrying or using a class C drug is less, though prison is still an option for the authorities.
    The government has yet to make the actual change in the class of cannabis, and the drug still carries the significant penalties of a Class B substance.
    Boscombe is one of the worst drugs blackspots in the south of England. Anti-drugs groups like Bournemouth based charity 'The Drug Action Team' are concerned about the plans. They feel the cafe will undermine their work and the location of the cafe will damage Boscombe's image.

    You can still have your say at:
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/southampton/news/newstalk/newstalk_cannabis.shtml
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    i dunno but i met a lovely man, '' hello my name is Olan, i live in amsterdam, sleep in my car and am a bit of a traveller. do mind ttaking my car down the hill so i can use one of your boards?'' anyway, this guy was scouting for potential customers a few months back and wants to open one in Ilkley. (as in bah tat)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    SIXTY COPPERS USED IN RAID!!!!!!!

    DORSET POLICE - PRESS RELEASE

    Bournemouth police have executed a warrant at the cannabis café under the Misuse of Drugs Act on Wednesday evening, 24th April, 2002.

    Police officers entered the café in Station Approach, Boscombe, at 7.40 pm. There were twenty five people inside the premises at the time of the raid, seven of whom were arrested for drug-related offences.

    Sixty officers were involved in the operation including search-trained officers and a dog handler. Only some of the sixty officers entered the building. A quantity of substances, believed to be cannabis, was recovered from the café.

    Chief Inspector Nick Hazelton commanded the operation and said: “I am pleased with the results of the operation. Once again, it shows Dorset Police’s intention to deal appropriately with offences at this enterprise. We are here to uphold the law and will continue to do so”

    Those arrested were:
    1. A 17 year old Bournemouth youth – since released on police bail.
    2. An 18 year old Bournemouth man – since released on police bail.
    3. A 21 year old Bournemouth woman – since released on police bail.
    4. A 28 year old Bournemouth man – reported for an offence and since released.
    5. A 30 year old Bournemouth man – assisting with our enquiries.
    6. A 34 year old Bournemouth man – charged and bailed to Bournemouth Magistrates Court on 29th April, 2002.
    7. A 47 year old Christchurch man – since released on police bail.

    Detective Chief Inspector Colin Stanger, head of Dorset Police’s specialist squads, said: “The operation was a success and reinforces what I said previously. Dorset Police targets dealers and users in the more harmful Class A drugs like heroin and crack cocaine but clearly we will not tolerate the dealing in and use of cannabis because it is an offence and our duty is to enforce the law.”


    SIXTY??? <IMG SRC="eek.gif" border="0" ALT="icon">
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    60 police officers to arrest a few people for having a smoke!
    I think that shows how stupid our current laws are.
    What a waste of police time and resources.
    Those policeman should have been out on the beat looking for burglers and theives.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by sr2:
    <STRONG>60 police officers to arrest a few people for having a smoke!
    I think that shows how stupid our current laws are.
    What a waste of police time and resources.
    Those policeman should have been out on the beat looking for burglers and theives.</STRONG>

    Totally Agree there mate!!!
    <IMG SRC="rolleyes.gif" border="0" ALT="icon">
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