OWNER 'DEALT IN CANNABIS AT HIS CAFE'

The owner of Britain's first cannabis cafe is operating as a drug dealer, a
court heard.

Stockport magistrates were told Colin Davies' claim he supplied the drug at
the Dutch Experience only to those who use it for medicinal purposes was
not true.

Police had evidence the premises on Hooper Street, in Stockport, were being
used for the commercial supply of the drug to anybody who wished to
purchase it, prosecutor Lesley Mott said.

The claim was made after magistrates allowed reporting restrictions to be
lifted following an appeal by Mr Davies' solicitor, Lesley Herman, during a
dramatic court appearance yesterday attended by dozens of his supporters.

Ms Herman admitted her client was a nuisance to the police and the
authorities but pointed out that Mr Davies had twice been acquitted of
drugs offences, in June 1997 and July 1998, by separate juries.

Pain Relief

She said Mr Davies had badly damaged his spine in 1996 which required
numerous operations and which caused pain so severe that morphine and other
painkillers could not help.

When he was offered it at a spinal injuries unit in Sheffield, cannabis
provided him with the first proper night's sleep since the accident and now
he wanted to make it available to other sick people in his situation, she said.

Mr Davies set up his cafe on a slightly different basis, where the sale of
tea and coffee with the help of donations would be used to provide the drug
to sick people and patients in his Medical Marijuana Co-operative, the
court heard.

Ms Herman said her client admitted possession of the drug, but added: "It
has always been Mr Davies' intention that he has not supplied cannabis for
money."

Earlier, prosecutor Ms Mott described how police raided The Dutch
Experience on September 15 just before its grand opening.

Raid

Police seized bags containing cannabis, smoking "bongs", pipes and other
cannabis merchandise including T-shirts, ashtrays and stickers, while
officers also seized more bags of cannabis and computers at Mr Davies' home
in Brinnington, she said.

Another raid on Tuesday afternoon this week had been preceeded by numerous
newspaper articles indicating cannabis was being openly smoked on the
premises, she said.

Ms Mott said police seized a kilo of cannabis in the process of being
weighed out for re-sale, along with scales and bags full of cannabis being
sold at UKP10 each. The value of the drugs was up to UKP3,000, she said.

She also said Mr Davies had been charged with importing "very large
quantities of cannabis" from the Continent, adding that one video cassette
box seized by customs officers hid a kilo of cannabis resin.

Ms Herman made an application for her client, who is charged with string of
drug offences, to be freed on bail. A decision to refuse the application
was greeted with uproar from the public gallery.

Mr Davies was remanded in custody until November 29 while three others, who
are also charged with drug offences, were released on conditional bail
until January 3.