POT ADVOCATES TO OPEN ROLL-YOUR-OWN CAFE

In Latin Quarter. With Court Rulings That Ease Penalties, Time Is Right For
Bring-Your-Own-Joint Joint, Says Bloc Pot

It will be located below a skateboard shop and wedged between bars and
boutiques on a funky stretch of St. Denis St.

Within the month, organizers of the Bloc Pot and Marijuana Party hope to
open Canada's first Amsterdam-style cafe that will allow patrons to smoke
cannabis while sipping their lattes.

The basement cafe - one name being considered is Second Puff - won't
actually sell grass, but customers will be encouraged to "bring your own
joint."

"A cafe is a good place for recreational users to smoke pot, as opposed to
doing it on the street," Marc-Boris St. Maurice, a Marijuana Party
activist, said yesterday as he stood in front of the St. Denis address,
just north of Ontario St.

St. Maurice said Bloc Pot leader Hugo Saint-Onge decided to open a
marijuana cafe after a series of court rulings across the country put in
limbo the legality of simple possession.

In May, an Ontario Superior Court judge upheld a lower court's decision to
acquit a Windsor teenager of possessing less than 30 grams of marijuana.

Since then, courts in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island have ruled
similarly.

St. Maurice, manager of the Montreal Compassion Club that sells marijuana
for medical reasons, denied that he and Saint-Onge are trying to provoke
police. Shortly after opening the Compassion Club, St. Maurice was arrested
and charged with drug trafficking. He was acquitted in December 2002.

"Open provocation would be to go to the steps of a police station and puff
in the faces of the officers," St. Maurice said, dressed in a charcoal
business suit.

"This is simply exercising our newfound rights to smoke marijuana - no
more, no less. If somebody doesn't like pot, they don't have to come to our
cafe."

Montreal police refused yesterday to comment on the prospect of a marijuana
cafe. "It's something that we have to look into," Constable Miguel Alston said.

Reaction on St. Denis, however, was mixed among merchants and passersby.

"It's going to cause trouble," said Sacha Morcos, owner of the Qube
clothing boutique.

"You're going to see drug dealers in front of the cafe and the cops are
going to come. It's not going to be good for business."

But Sean Dwyer, who was on his way to brunch with his friend, Ron Harris,
said he likes the idea of smoking up in a cafe.

"It's about time," he said. "For a European-flavoured city like Montreal,
the morality squad is too oppressive."

Bookseller Yann Vernay, who runs the Librairie Mona Lisait, across the
street, said he wouldn't be bothered by it.

"We're talking about marijuana, not hard drugs," said Vernay, who supports
the decriminalization of cannabis.

In the past week, Saint-Onge has been painting the place, which used to
sell records. Yesterday, a Bloc Pot poster hung on the closed front door.
Upstairs, parents took their teenage sons and daughters to buy skateboards
and running shoes at the popular Spin Skateboard Shop.

In the last couple of years, Ottawa has been moving toward decriminalizing
marijuana. In 2001, the federal government drafted regulations granting
exemptions to the sick and infirm to possess and grow marijuana.

Last May, Justice Minister Martin Martin Cauchon introduced legislation to
decriminalize possession. Under the proposed law, being found with up to 15
grams of marijuana - enough for 15 to 20 joints - would carry fines ranging
from $100 to $200, but the offence would no longer result in a criminal record.

St. Maurice said he looks forward one day to the cafe selling marijuana.
For now, though, in addition to coffee and cake, rolling papers will be sold.