DOORS SET TO OPEN AT EDINBURGH'S FIRST CANNABIS CAFE

The Capital's first cannabis cafe is set to open next month when the drug
is downgraded from class B to class C.

The Purple Haze internet cafe in Leith will become a private club where
people can bring small amounts of the narcotic to smoke.

It will be the first such establishment to open in Scotland and will test
how the new laws are to be applied by police.

Cafe owner Paul Stewart believes turning the former greasy spoon into a
private club in the evenings would allow him to operate within the law.

Thirty-seven-year-old Mr Stewart said: "I use cannabis and I'm going to
allow people to smoke it. I'm not going to sell it, but I'll allow people
to bring their own. "I don't think there's going to be a problem, but I
could be wrong. I could end up in jail."

He said the cafe would operate as normal until 4pm then become a nightly
club with a UKP5 membership fee to join.

However, a spokesman for Lothian and Borders Police warned that Mr Stewart
would face prosecution even if the cafe was run privately.

The spokesman said: "He would be committing an offence. It is an offence if
you allow your premises to be used knowingly for the smoking of cannabis."

Cannabis cafes have been operating in England for up to seven months before
the owners faced prosecution.

Purple Haze and tobacconists The Pipe Shop, which is also based in Leith,
have also started selling magic mushrooms for the price of UKP12 a bag -
even though magic mushrooms contain the class A drug psilocybin.

Under the new law, it is thought that people caught smoking cannabis at
home will generally not face court action, but receive only a warning or fine.