VANCOUVER SET TO LIFT LICENCE OF POT CAFE

Doors Remain Closed after Owner Arrested Second Time For Possession Of
Marijuana

The city's controversial pot cafe is closed.

With owner Carol Gwilt's re-arrest, for possessing more than a kilogram of
marijuana, the experiment she, Donald Briere, and others began by opening
the Da Kine Smoke and Beverage Shop has probably come to an end.

All that is left now is a Vancouver city council hearing on Oct. 6 to lift
Da Kine's business licence.

The shop remains locked, empty of the kilograms of pot that flew off its
shelves in recent months.

"I don't have instructions from the owner to open the store, and if I open
the door, there's not going to be any pot," Lorne McLeod, a loyal friend of
Briere, said Friday as he waited at Vancouver Provincial Court for Gwilt to
make a court appearance. "I'm not going to jail because I'm stupid."

Gwilt was arrested Thursday, after first being picked up when police busted
Da Kine on Sept. 9.

That raid, involving 40 officers, followed media reports of
over-the-counter sales. Gwilt and seven employees were charged with
possessing marijuana for the purpose of trafficking. She was also charged
with possessing proceeds from a crime.

Gwilt spent the night in jail, but was back at Da Kine soon after her
release, vowing to continue selling pot to people who use it for medicinal
purposes - against the advice of her lawyer, John Conroy, a longtime pot
activist.