Subject: Fw: Colin Davies is free
Date: Tue, 21 May 2002 07:21:55 +0100



Subject: Colin Davies is free


> Colin Davies is free
> UK coffee shop pioneer released on bail
> 
> http://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/2430
> by Pete Brady
> 
> Colin Davies, a disabled medical marijuana user and advocate who opened
> England's first
> official marijuana coffee shop last September, has been freed from
> Strangeways Prison after
> seven months in captivity.
> 
> Davies, who opened the Holland-style coffee shop called "The Dutch
> Experience" in Stockport in
> partnership with Dutch cannaguru Nol Van Schaik, was remanded into
> custody last year after he
> refused to assure judges that he would refrain from re-opening his shop,
> which had been
> repeatedly harassed and shut down by police.
> 
> The disabled man, who suffers severe pain and dysfunction due to a
> spinal injury caused by a
> drunken idiot, spent much of his time in the prison's hospital ward,
> where authorities tried to
> force him to ingest chemical drugs to take the place of the medical
> marijuana that he had found
> was best for his problems.
> 
> The Dutch Experience has been constantly attacked by police since its
> opening in September,
> 2001, but Davies, Van Schaik, Dutch and English pot advocates, and
> medpot patients stood down
> police using true grit and creative protests that saw Manchester courts
> and jails flooded with
> cannabis users who forced police to arrest them and then demanded
> expensive jury trials for
> minor marijuana possession charges.
> 
> Van Schaik, cannagoddess Maruska De Blauuw, Marcel "Willie Wortels"
> Dekker, DJ Maarten
> Goodeman, Baby Bart, Patman, and dozens of other brave activists and
> volunteers from both sides
> of the English channel valiantly kept The Dutch Experience open after a
> judge sent Davies to
> prison last winter.
> 
> Davies has refused to promise judges that he will stay out of the
> cannabis business, and they
> have refused to grant him bail until this week, when they finally
> relented.
> 
> The activist's bail conditions are stringent; they include a ban on his
> ability to physically
> be present in the Manchester area, which means that Davies will not be
> able to see his home,
> friends, or children.  He is scheduled to stand trial for various severe
> marijuana charges in
> June this year.
> 
> The spritely and witty Davies has twice before beaten pot charges in
> court, using a medical
> marijuana defense, and has openly grown and sold marijuana without
> apology or dishonesty for
> several years. Davies is famous worldwide for a stunt in which he gave a
> pot posey to England's
> recently-deceased and beloved Queen Mum. He has also given marijuana to
> Prince Charles, and
> there are rumors that he may have toked up with Prince Andrew, Lady
> Diana, and other members of
> the Royal Family, all of whom look like they could use some good herb
> right now.
> 
> "Colin's courage and example should inspire people everywhere to do
> whatever it takes to ensure
> cannabis freedom," said an elated nol Van Schaik when informed of
> Davies' release. "There are
> now other coffee shops opening across the UK, and the British government
> has been forced to
> change its marijuana policies because they realized that Dutch policies
> made more sense than
> their own, and because they found out that some pot people will not back
> down and let a
> government and its police forces steal their medicine from them."
> 
> 
> For the latest news on the Dutch Experience and Colin Davies, visit
> www.wwwshop.nl or
> www.dutchexperience.org
> 
> --
> 
> --
> 01100110 01101001 01110011 01101000 01100101 01111001 01100101
>          o
>         O
>           O  o
>            o
>           O
>            o
>             <-AT-><
>  Overgrow the Government!
> 
>  There ain't no Sanity Clause.
>