NO DOPE, PAL

We'll Shut Down Your Hash Cafe

A POLICE chief has warned he will close Scotland's first cannabis cafe as
soon as it opens and arrest the owner.

Deputy Chief Constable Tom Wood has written to Edinburgh publisher Kevin
Williamson to warn him he will be breaking the law if he opens a hash cafe
before the end of the year.

Home Secretary David Blunkett said last month that cannabis would be
downgraded to a class C drug, making it highly unlikely anyone caught with
it would be prosecuted.

But yesterday, the Lothian and Borders chief warned anyone thinking his
force was relaxing its attitude to cannabis was gravely mistaken.

He targeted Williamson, 34, who helped launch Trainspotting author Irvine
Welsh's career , over plans to open a members-only cafe for over-18s with
facilities like chessboards, an art gallery, cinema and bookshop.

Williamson claims backers have stumped up UKP40,000 and he has signed a
lease on a secret city centre property.

But in his letter, Wood warned him: "I know that you have openly stated you
intend to open and operate a cannabis cafe in Edinburgh.

"I wish to make it quite clear the offences committed by any person
attempting to open or operate a cannabis cafe and what actions police would
take."

Williamson could face up to five years in jail for selling a class C drug.

Wood told the Sunday Mail: "There has been a lot of misinformation about
cannabis since the Home Secretary made his announcement and we don't want
people to be under any illusion as to what action we will take and what we
will do."

Describing his cafe on his website Williamson said: "We don't want it to
look like some seedy drugs den but instead to be a bright, well-lit,
cultural place, that will be worth dropping in to whether you smoked dope
or not and a place you wouldn't feel embarrassed about taking your granny."