Pot Cafe in Hamilton Being Busted

[MarcO]

just got back from lunch. The "Up In Smoke" cafe is in the process of being busted for the second time in a couple of weeks. Note that this is just down the street from the notorious Hamilton crackhouse "The Sandbar" - a now defunct bar that has been the site of a few shootings and a known crack house.

[color:purple]Good to see this War on Drugs unfolding as it should. Yeah, while we're inconviencing the crackheads, let's bust a few potheads while we're at it.

The crackheads will just move somewhere else underground. The pot cafe, being publicly accessible and upfront about it's purpose(s), gets the spillover affect and surely it's days are numbered. And for thousands of simple minded people across the region, both crack and pot will be linked together as dangerous vices suffocating the life out of Hamilton.

The rise of crack and cocaine use in Hamilton is unbelievable and the effects are being played out in the streets. I know, I see it everyday as I walk through downtown.

Fuck.

[boogieknight]

I think that patrons of the herb should be prepared for some tuff times ahead.

Thank you Mr. Harper.

[Tooly]

im surprised the cafe was open for as long as it was to be honest, not to bash the owner, i went to high school with him, hes a decent guy, but come on! pot is illegal, and you open up a store where kids can go and get high, and you dont think youll get shut down? sorry, but we dont live in utopia yet, unfortunatly.

a shame for sure, but you could see this one coming from miles away.

also, i totally agree with you marco on the crack-coke problem. its fucking ridiculous

[payce-ley]

good riddance to the Sandbar indeed, place has been one big bad vibe for decades... a positive move by the authorities in my opinion

sadly the pot cafe would probably be best off packing it in until there are either NDP or liberal powers back in charge of ottawa who will at least consider changing the legalities surrounding pot... until then I agree that pot and crack are going to be treated as not significantly different in the laws eyes... harper's government has taken all legislation slated towards re-examining pot laws off of the table and hopes to increase penalties and convictions rather than reduce them... too bad, felt like we had a hope of moving forward there for a bit

[bradm]

I think the bust has much more to do with local politics (municipal, even provincial) and policing policy* than federal politics. (In other words, I'd bet that the bust would have happened regardless of who won the recent federal election.)

Aloha,

Brad

* I think this sentence has the most words beginning with "poli", ever...

[Im going home Donny]

"felt like we had a hopes of moving forward"

I have to say "felt like" is the key word there.

Harpers evil no doubts here...but I'm kinda hoping his evilness will do a couple of things..

a)force the Libs to do what they say thier gonna do if they get back in and straighten up thier act before getting back in.

b)push Canadians off the friggin fence towards the left.

[shainhouse]

I think the whole pot cafe idea was ridiculous to begin with. In my opinion, the cafe in and of itself is an insult to the local police, who do not go knocking down our doors when we're smoking pot at home. Smoking pot in our own private property is more than okay, I don't see anyone throwing fines and jail time at me when I smoke at home, so what's the need for a pot cafe then? It's just for idiots who feel the need to publicize their habit for 'protest' purposes that really are more insulting to people than influencing.

Harper has does nothing to influence this. He hasn't had time. I totally agree with you Kevin, and I say good riddence to Up in Smoke if it ends up leaving, because it shouldn't have been there in the first place...

just my 2 cents.

[Esau]

I agree Brad, seeing as this isn't the first time its been busted, just the first time since the election.

[edit to add]

As for the cafe, I'm pretty much indifferent, I would have never entered the place to begin with anyway.

Edited March 15, 2006 by Guest

[bradm]

The other thing to realize is that there haven't been any reports of the shops in Vancouver being busted. If the bust was instigated from the federal level, I'd expect them to go after Vancouver first, as those shops are thriving and (with the recent 60 Minutes story on Marc Emery) in the news.

Aloha,

Brad

[boogieknight]

The other thing to realize is that there haven't been any reports of the shops in Vancouver being busted. If the bust was instigated from the federal level, I'd expect them to go after Vancouver first, as those shops are thriving and (with the recent 60 Minutes story on Marc Emery) in the news.

Aloha,

Brad

I won't be surprized to see it happen though.

[payce-ley]

I'm indifferent myself towards the cafe... just saw it as trying to change the laws in its own way

I agree it would get busted periodically no matter who's in ottawa but feel the heat has been turned up by the local authorities now that they feel less like the law has a potential of changing soon... the cops have made no effort to hide their dislike of the place since it opened... but they seemed to cool down about it for a while there... now they seem to be all gung ho again (apperently they applied for the same entitlement to confiscate the cafe property that they used on the Sandbar)

this bust down there is also the second bust within a week, not two weeks... for the past 6 months they seemed to only get harassed every month

Edited March 15, 2006 by Guest

[boogieknight]

I never went to that cafe, but have gone to a few different in Ontario and BC. I always looked at them as a way off callenging the current laws.

I would never want to open one but I am glad that there are people out there that would.

[Freak By Night]

I think the whole pot cafe idea was ridiculous to begin with. In my opinion, the cafe in and of itself is an insult to the local police, who do not go knocking down our doors when we're smoking pot at home. Smoking pot in our own private property is more than okay, I don't see anyone throwing fines and jail time at me when I smoke at home, so what's the need for a pot cafe then? It's just for idiots who feel the need to publicize their habit for 'protest' purposes that really are more insulting to people than influencing.

Aren't you moving to Amsterdam soon?

Edited March 15, 2006 by Guest

[mattm]

I never went to that cafe, but have gone to a few different in Ontario and BC. I always looked at them as a way off callenging the current laws.

I would never want to open one but I am glad that there are people out there that would.

I agree with that as well. It still baffles me that I can buy cigarettes but not weed when cigarettes will just kill me and I get nothing from them. I liked the idea in amsterdam 'cause I could get together and smoke with like minded strangers that wouldn't normally just drop by the house (though I have had a random stranger drop by a house I lived in who happened to have some and became a friend of the house)

[Esau]

Sadly, Chris even lives there so not only is his business screwed, he's now homeless.

this bust down there is also the second bust within a week, not two weeks... for the past 6 months they seemed to only get harassed every month

I imagine this bust is probally due to the fact a week later (03/08 was the first one) its open again. I assume the cops look at as a slap in the face.

I seem to recall reading in the spec awhile back that the city & police wanted to start cracking down (no pun intended) on king street. Not like that means much though other then perhaps it was going happen regardless of gov't.

[boogieknight]

I never went to that cafe' date=' but have gone to a few different in Ontario and BC. I always looked at them as a way off callenging the current laws.

I would never want to open one but I am glad that there are people out there that would.[/quote']

I agree with that as well. It still baffles me that I can buy cigarettes but not weed when cigarettes will just kill me and I get nothing from them. I liked the idea in amsterdam 'cause I could get together and smoke with like minded strangers that wouldn't normally just drop by the house (though I have had a random stranger drop by a house I lived in who happened to have some and became a friend of the house)

Yes that would be nice. I was having lunch today at the Only Cafe in Peterborough and once I was finish and looked at all the folks enjoying their beers, coffee and cigarettes, I thought about how great it would be to go up to the bar order a gram of some bubble hash and smoke a big fattie.

Damn the man for making go home to do that!!!

[AD]

Thank you Mr. Harper.

I think Harper's as bad as the next dude, but you can't blame the bust of a potshop on him. He didn't make pot illegal & he can't intervene in police matters.

But I do agree that he is a supreme douchebag.

AD

[boogieknight]

Not really blaming Harper, more a comment on how I have a feeling that there is going to be a crack down on some of the 'pot freedoms' we've been getting away with for the last decade.

[Sarahbelle]

Hmmm, well I kinda knew this was gunna happen sometime or later but I'm still kinda sad about it. I used to go there a lot and It was filled with all kinds of people. I guess they're mostly worried about the kinds of kids that go in there. I really don't understand the big deal of marijuana. The government should just realize that they're not going to stop people from smoking weed and take some proactive action!!

The owners wanted to start something new and maybe push a few boundaries.

I really hope no one gets hurt or in trouble with the law!!!

baah... I'm sad!

[StoneMtn]

You guys are all referring to "kids" going to this place. Does this cafe allow people of all ages to come in?

In BC, it's common for these cafes to require patrons to be 19 years old or over; the idea being that the owners are willing to accept a restriction on pot use that is no different than the restriction on alcohol use.

If they were to let anyone in of any age, though, I think that the cops in BC would take a different position on the whole concept.

[Tooly]

You guys are all referring to "kids" going to this place. Does this cafe allow people of all ages to come in?

In BC, it's common for these cafes to require patrons to be 19 years old or over; the idea being that the owners are willing to accept a restriction on pot use that is no different than the restriction on alcohol use.

If they were to let anyone in of any age, though, I think that the cops in BC would take a different position on the whole concept.

last time i was there it was 19+ i do believe.

[Sarahbelle]

I don't think they really enforce the 19+ rule there at all. I know there were some really young guys going in there! (15 and 16!)

[StaggerLee]

I think the whole pot cafe idea was ridiculous to begin with. In my opinion, the cafe in and of itself is an insult to the local police, who do not go knocking down our doors when we're smoking pot at home. Smoking pot in our own private property is more than okay, I don't see anyone throwing fines and jail time at me when I smoke at home, so what's the need for a pot cafe then? It's just for idiots who feel the need to publicize their habit for 'protest' purposes that really are more insulting to people than influencing.

I disagree. I really admire the folks who have the courage to try this sort of thing. I'm unfamiliar with the cafe in Hamilton, but most pot cafes I've been to are well run business considering the awkward position they are placed in. They can play an important role in showing regular folks what things might be like if pot were legal. Most try to educate the public and organize pot smokers to try to affect change in the way pot is percieved socially and legally.

Of course it's no surprise that cafes get busted, but any cop who sees a pot cafe as a personal insult really doesn't understand his or her role in administering justice. Sure the cops are placed in the position of having to enforce a bad law, but pot activism is about protesting the law and not the way is administered (generally speaking at least -- years ago I watched a cop perform an illegal search and seizure, then plant evidence in order to charge an 18 year-old with possesion of two grams -- so criticism of the cops' administration of the law is valid as well).

While you might feel safe smoking pot at home, the fact is you are breaking the law and are still at risk. You'll have to either buy your pot or grow it, and both those activities will increase your risk of getting caught. Things are fairly lenient here in Canada, but people still go to jail for smoking pot, an I think that's cause for protest.