CANNABIS CAFE VETOED

A SHOP in Witham will not be turned into the county's first-ever
cannabis cafe.

Braintree District Council has pulled the plug on plans by
pro-cannabis campaigners to offer the drug on open sale in a
disused unit in the shopping precinct if the Government downgraded
it from Class B to C.

A spokeswoman said the shops off Spa Road were all council owned, and
the council would not even consider letting them for an illegal use.

"There has not been a proposal made as yet, but in any case the
council would not consider any proposal which was not legal," said Ann
Proudfoot.

"It would not even get to councillors. We don't want to get into a
debate about it. It is very straightforward. We could not let a
property knowing it was to be used for an illegal purpose."

The proposal came from the Legalise Cannabis Party which fielded a
candidate in the last council and general elections.

Chris Philbin, from Crouch Drive, Witham, said: "We have talked about
this for years, and when Home Secretary David Blunkett eases up on the
law a bit it will be a sensible idea to give people a choice of
whether they want to go to the pub or to a coffee shop which sells
cannabis, like those in Amsterdam."

He added that he would be prepared to go ahead with the idea even if
the Home Secretary did not downgrade the drug.