Crowds expected at cannabis cafe meeting

A MEETING to discuss plans for a cannabis café in Thanet will be held on Saturday.

Organiser, Green Party councillor Ian Driver, said: "I have been inundated with messages from local cannabis users who said they be coming to the meeting. I am confident that we will be able to establish a group of people who will take the cannabis café idea forward and who will campaign on behalf of cannabis users in Thanet".

Speakers at the meeting will include Professor Alex Stevens from the University of Kent, The Kent Cannabis Consortium and the UK Cannabis Social Clubs. Kent Police and Crime Commissioner Anne Barnes was invited to meeting but declined to attend.

Cllr Driver said: "I am very disappointed that Anne Barnes will not be present. The debate about drugs and policing is becoming much more topical and important. Senior police officers such as Chief Constable Mike Barton of the Durham Constabulary and senior politicians like Deputy Prime Minster Nick Clegg, are calling for an informed national debate about drugs policy.

"Just two weeks ago a Government e-petition sponsored by Green Party MP, Caroline Lucas, calling for a review of UK drugs laws received more than 135,000 signatures. But Anne Barnes chooses to bury her head in the sand and duck out of a very important discussion about police related policy."

But Mrs Barnes said the campaign would need to lobby for a law change. She added: "One of my roles is to hold the Chief Constable to account for upholding the law. I simply cannot turn a blind eye to this. We live in a democracy and if people want the law changed on the use of cannabis then they really need to lobby their local MP."

The meeting will be taking place at the Red Hall, 11 Grosvenor Road, Broadstairs from 1pm-3pm.

Mr Driver, who has admitted to using cannabis, cocaine and ecstasy in the past, first mooted the cannabis cafe idea in February. He says he wants to form a group to come up with a business case and look at sites in Margate and Ramsgate.

http://www.thanetgazette.co.uk 12/03/2014