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Cannabis Cafe in Hamilton

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secondtube Newbie

secondtube

Posted
Posted

yep (surprise surprise)

Its ok.

A great friend of mine who i grew up with, Chris Goodwin, is the owner/operator.

He's a political science major, and a major pot activist (obviously)...

I helped him in the early stages, as did Tooly and OnTheJourney.

Its a safe place to go and smoke a doob...The comps aren't sure what to do about it...Chris has gotten NO permission to run it, but has the financial backing of that idiot of the west, incase he gets arrested/charged/jail.

If you have any questions about anything related to it, just ask. One of us will know the answer. Its a first of its kind, a groudbreaking experiment...

If its open in a couple years from now, Chris will be, in my mind, a hero. If its closed in a few months from now, he, unfortunately, will be forgotten.

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questcequecest? Newbie

questcequecest?

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it definitely is a first for the city of hamilton. i recall a few places in t.o. coming and going.. phishyK once took me to a heady head shop to smoke a doobie. remember? i think that place has closed down now..

thorgnor's dad was also talking about this place in hamilton last night. was there a 70 something year-old lady arrested for smoking there? too bad if thats the start they're off to.

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U.FProductions Newbie

U.FProductions

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Responding to the heavy handed tactics of the Hamilton Wentworth Police, who harassed a 76 year-old women who was responsibly using marijuana peacefully at the Up In Smoke Café, and may have ruined a 25 year old McMaster students life, the Hamilton Compassion Society and Up In Smoke Cafe announces a protest and community forum in Hamilton.

The protest will be organized out front of the John Sopinka Courthouse all day on November 4th. The community forum and dialogue to take place in the studious confines of the Hamilton Central Library's Hamilton Room, Saturday Nov. 20 from 9am ­ 5pm to discuss a peace offering between marijuana prohibitionists and marijuana enthusiasts.

With close to 1000 people in our "database", we are going to have the biggest and loudest protest this city has ever seen. Chris Goodwin will also protest in front of the Up In Smoke Cafe and Hamilton Compassion Society all this week handing out Jean Coopers story as well as No Your Rights Literature.

Please everyone help us hand out literature and write letters daily. We need to change these laws. Each new day we get closer than we were the last. To save Jean Cooper and those like her, this fight needs to be faught!

The public is also invited to attend what will truly be an enlightening discussion on the subject that everyone in the Steel city is gossiping about. Hamilton Compassion Society's Chris Goodwin will present a panel of intelligent enlightened enthusiastic grass guests, and fully intends to invite those who oppose the fall of prohibition to present their view. The HCS director is receiving direct support from Matthew Mernagh, Niagara Compassion Society director, noted writer and longstanding Toronto Compassion Club member. A community forum in St. Catharines was overwhelmingly received and observed by the Niagara Region Police morality unit.

Pot peace is needed to end Hamilton's terrible War on Drugs that sees an elderly women relaxing in the confines of an adult establishment going to the hospital, not from ingesting her medicine, but from fear. Hamilton has been overgrown, not by Dawn of the Dead lumbering Potheads, but intelligent, civic minded individuals, like Chris Goodwin who demand peace.

Demand Pot Peace In Canada!

Peace, Goodster's Wife

Up In Smoke Cafe and Hamilton Compassion Society

227 King Street East, Hamilton ON, L8N 1B6

905-777-9119

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

FIRST ARREST (76 year old lady)

AT THE UP IN SMOKE CAFE &

Hamilton Compassion Society

Dateline:

Monday, August 30, 2004

Hamilton, Ontario, 4:00 - 4:25pm,

Editorial

Zedo

76 year old Jean Cooper, a member of the Hamilton Compassion Society and a diabetic with a section 56 exemption was arrested today within the confines of Hamilton's first cannabis cafe, Up In Smoke. Police entered the cafe shortly before 4:00 pm and witnessed Ms. Cooper hauling on a single joint that she had just lit up. One of the officers, upon noticing Ms. Cooper taking her medicine, said: "Do you want to put that out before I get stoned too?"

Two Hamilton Police Service officers and one R.C.M.P. officer arrested Ms. Cooper and charged her with possession of a narcotic after she declined to extinguish the cannabis cigarette. Ms. Cooper, as well as many Compassion Club Members pleaded with the police to not arrest her, as she's just a frail, little old lady who uses marijuana for medical reasons. The police didn't seem to care: they arrested her anyway.

Ms. Cooper said: "I feel like I have lost all of my dignity. May the Lord all mighty help me regain it. Ohh Lord, I fell like I'm going to die."

Shortly afterward, while the police continued to interrogate/harrass her, Ms. Cooper collapsed in her cafe chair. Meanwhile Farid Kayhan, cafe employee, kept video taping the entire situation even though the one Hamilton officer insisted that he stop filming when the ambulance got there.

Still conscious, with her head resting in her arms on the table, she then asked cafe staff to call her son, Donald Cooper, who is ironically a Health Canada Employee. He works in the Medical Marijuana Access Regulation program (MMAR) in Victoria B.C, and helped her to obtain her section 56 exemption.

Ryan Clark junior partner of the cafe, stayed with Ms. Cooper, reassuring her throughout the entire ordeal. Paramedics arrived within a few miutes of being called and attended to Ms. Cooper, and took her away by ambulance to be checked out by the Hamilton General Hospital. It is unknown at this time whether or not the police attended to Ms. Cooper again while she was in the hospital. Shortly after Ms. Cooper was taken away, the three police officers came back into the cafe to speak with the cafe owners, Chris Goodwin and Ryan Clark.

"First of all, you guys aren't in trouble" Hamilton Police service officer Kevin Murphy said. "Secondly, you can't allow people to smoke dope in here."

"By dope, you mean marijuana, don't you?", Ryan Clark enquired. "Yes" said oficer Murphy. "But this is a compassion society" Ryan responded.

"It doesn't matter" the officer fired back. "What about her Section 56 exemption?", Andrew Haines enquired. (Andrew, the owner of 420 Graphics had arrived at the cafe to deliver posters, in the middle of the bust.) "We don't know that she actually has one of those." the officer replied. "That's all we have to say to you folks at this time." the officer said, just before the three of them, as quickly as they arrived, departed.

Within seconds, everyone in the cafe is on the phone to the media. Ryan Clark, his friends Andrew Soifert and Andrew Haines drove the video camera to the local television station, CHCH TV Hamilton, and Ryan did an interview with news anchor, Karen Cumming. It appeared on the news at 6:00pm and will air again at 11:00 pm. The Hamilton Spectator also did an interview with Chris Goodwin which will appear in the August 31st edition

More info will be posted on this site as it comes available.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Ms. Cooper with the hope that she will recover from this horrific ordeal.

Peace! Zedo

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Again, the police entered the Up In Smoke Cafe.

I guess they had a point to make...at first they said that they were coming into the store in order to speak with the owner. Upon entering there was a couple sitting at a table. The gentleman finished filling his pipe and from what I could see did not have anything on the table, nor did he start smoking from his pipe. The officers proceeded to approach the couple.

I must mention that the officers that entered the cafe today are the same officers that were in the store yesterday and arrested Jean Cooper. Of the three officers that entered the cafe, two were Hamilton Police - P.C. Geoff Burbidge #855 Station 10 - Central and P.C. Kevin Murphy #590 Station 10 - Central - 'A' Squad, and the third officer was an RCMP officer.

One of the Hamilton police officers - P.C. Kevin Murphy #590 Station 10 - Central - 'A' Squad - sat at the table while the other Hamilton police officer walked around the table and stood near the entrance/exit. The RCMP officer stood in the same spot near the entrance/exit to the opposite side of the Hamilton police officer. The officers continued to intimidate the customers, P.C. Kevin Murphy began citing a citation to the one customer. Apparently, Murphy gave a summons to our customer to appear in court November 04, 2004. Same court date for Jean Cooper. We have planned on setting up a protest at the court house - Main St. E. November 4, 2004 in support of our customers.

One point I should make is that no matter what happens with the police while they are in here, once they leave and new customers have entered, the new customers wait until the officers have left the establishment in order to blaze. With more than 600 people in our "database", we are going to have the biggest and loudest protest this city has ever seen... Again, the protest will take place November 4, 2004 in front of the court house located on Main St. W. Time to follow. Please everyone write letters daily. We need to change these laws...each new day we get closer than we were the last, this fight needs to be faught!

Peace,

Goodster's Wife

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paisley Newbie

paisley

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I remain far more concerned about wars in Afghan and Iraq, feeling like Canadians should send peacekeeping forces to the Sudan, scared of George Bush and his cronies and many other pressing problems in the world, than I am worried about Canada's pot laws... I don't like the way that Ryan and his partner are going about their fight as they don't seem to have much of a platform beyond "free the weed" and kind of act like Cheech and Chong on the news when they're on which doesn't exactly convey that people can be responsible with their pot use and it isn't really a big deal (which is how I personally think any protesting should proceed)

that said, the cop who busted the old lady was ridiculously out of line... the lady could've had a heart attack with all the excitement... as I said in another forum, "just doing your job" is a lame excuse for acting brazenly and stupidly... if you can't make a simple judgement call and realize that a 70-something year old lady isn't hurting anyone and isn't likely to change her ways at this stage in life you shouldn't be a cop as what you really are is a menace to society... someone equiped with those kind of brains isn't fit to be a garbageman

to quote myself:

very sad the older woman was harassed and charged... think the article said she was 74? in the midst of trying to get a legal prescription for herb because she is sick

any cop should at least have the bare minimum level of a just mind to decide who is causing a problem and who absolutely, amazingly is not any threat to anyone anywhere... they asked her to put out her joint or pipe, to which she said no so they busted her... great work, hero

I'm sure she'll learn something from this experience she hasn't in the last 74 years (likely to stay home for the rest of her life and not go out in public so the police don't have to do any thinking for themselves)

who gives a damn if someone wants to sit in a cafe and burn weed... isn't there worse things going on in the world that the cops don't have to shadow this place... catch a thief, stop an assault, help an old lady across the street like we pay you to do

"just doing my job" is a lame excuse to act like a bone-head... every time you cross a street not at the corner you break the law yet I don't see the cops running down every person who jaywalks... we live in a community together and sometimes need to be more responsible than "just doing our jobs"

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hamilton Newbie

hamilton

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I remain far more concerned about wars in Afghan and Iraq, feeling like Canadians should send peacekeeping forces to the Sudan, scared of George Bush and his cronies and many other pressing problems in the world, than I am worried about Canada's pot laws...

I think I love you, Jhamie.

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secondtube Newbie

secondtube

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ya, i agree, but we can't do sh!t about the wars in Afghan or Iraq, so instead i prefer to support the activists who give a sh!t about things that affect me.

i'm also sorry you dont like the way he is doing things, but i've seen what he's doing first hand, and there isn't a single Hamiltonian who is doing anything more to help legalize something that affects just about all of us.

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paisley Newbie

paisley

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well, I'll repeat that the thing I'm upset about here is the old lady getting busted, not that there is a pot cafe... I don't think someone who busts a 74 year old lady for smoking a joint deserves to be a police officer, they obviously have control issues and live to be obeyed

the country's drug laws are outdated, unfair and definately are in need of reform, that just isn't whats been on my mind as I lay in bed lately

its obvious that persons for whom pot will help ease their illness and suffering should be able to use it freely and without hassle... its criminal that these people can be prosecuted if they aren't dealing and only use their medication as medication... something needs to be done and it can't be looked at in any other way than the laws against pot create more criminals than they save from being criminals... I don't see how pot, and most drugs for that matter, would be so damaging to society if they were decriminalized, and I've thought about it a lot... most crimes related to drugs seem to take place around the black market distributing them... I'm all for decriminalization and even legalization and have been since before I puffed on my first joint

but I think that when you're being interviewed on CH television (known for being uber-conservative) at the same time as the chief of police on the other side of the screen and you finish your interview by holding up your fingers like you are smoking a joint and loudly inhale with all your might it cheapens your argument that marijuana isn't harmful enough to warrant persecution and the laws should be changed... it makes you look like a cocky person with no respect who thinks the whole world should smoke weed and party, which is too bad and a little hard for me to say as I really like Ryan (the guy interviewed) as a person and have spoken with him on many occasions... the look on the cop's face and the CH reporter's simply said "time to bust some of these rude and ignorant potheads"... I'm for the cause and I was offended

just saying if you're going to try and change society you should try to do it by presenting a responsible argument and don't be immature... the cause isn't to turn every person in Canada into a pot smoker, the cause is to decriminalize pot so innocent people won't be persucuted

[edit to add] with ALL that said, I am glad that these guys are doing this and plan to stop down to the cafe sometime (was already planning to)... ain't smokin no weed there but I'll stop by for a coffee and some converstion...

viva la resistence!

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Esau Newbie

Esau

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well, I'll repeat that the thing I'm upset about here is the old lady getting busted, not that there is a pot cafe... I don't think someone who busts a 74 year old lady for smoking a joint deserves to be a police officer, they obviously have control issues and live to be obeyed

I don't really see anyone questioning your comments Paisley,(quite the opposite actually) and just some folks sharing their thoughts.

just saying if you're going to try and change society you should try to do it by presenting a responsible argument and don't be immature... the cause isn't to turn every person in Canada into a pot smoker, the cause is to decriminalize pot so innocent people won't be persucuted

Huh?!

Maybe its time to go smoke one...

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Esau Newbie

Esau

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wasn't directed at you in the slightest Esau

I realize that...

was just explaining to secondtube that I'm not against what those guys were doing or trying to do

just was saddened that day watching the news

Yes, and like yourself certian issues are important to 2ndtube.He also agreed with ya I think...I dunno I'm drunk.

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paisley Newbie

paisley

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score one for the Up In Smoke boys

in the mornings paper they say yesterday they made the third bust in as many days... Ryan Clark's quote is "Its clearly an attempt to drive down business. It seems to be doing just the opposite."

guess if enough people get charged there the courts will probably eventually tell the cops to get a life and bust some criminals and stop clogging up the courtroom... I like that he used the words "drive down business", talk like that gets the common business man's attention... that business is improving even with the busts must be saying something to the powers that be... the people have spoken

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