Pubdate: Wed, 07 Jun 2000
Source: BBC News (UK Web)
Copyright: 2000 BBC
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MPS CALL FOR CANNABIS CAFES

Cafes like this could be seen in Britain Senior Welsh backbencher Paul
Flynn has sponsored a motion in the House of Commons calling for
cannabis cafes to be set up in Britain along the lines of those in the
Netherlands.

Mr Flynn, the MP for Newport West, has been a long-time campaigner for
the decriminalisation of the drug.

The Commons motion is co-sponsored by Ann Clwyd, the MP for the Cynon
Valley, and has been signed by 13 other MPs at Westminster - including
three Conservatives.

They all want the licenced cafes to be set up on a trial basis and say
the plan has the support of the Police Federation.

Mr Flynn said that a Police Foundation report had found that after 20
years of drug decrimanilisation in the Netherlands, young people there
use cannabis less than they do in Britain.

They also discovered that young Dutch people were less likely to use
heroin than in any country in Europe.

"It is clear that the British policy on prohibition of drugs is not
working and indeeds its actually making matters worse," Mr Flynn told
BBC Newsonline Wales.

"We need a system which can be licenced and properly
policed."

Mr Flynn had tried several times to persuade Parliament to allow
doctors to prescribe cannabis for medical use but had always failed
because of a lack of parliamentary time.

However the Welsh Council on Alcohol and Other Drugs has called on
parties in the Assembly to distance themselves from MPs who have
supported proposals for the Amsterdam-style cannabis coffee shops.
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MAP posted-by: Allan Wilkinson