UK Cannabis Social Clubs

[mammoTHClone]

Hi guys.

Here are some ideas for the Blueprint of a UK Cannabis Social Club, small-time, which hopefully people can discuss. CSCs have been around in Spain for years, and apparently they now have them in France even though the laws are pretty tough on them in France for growing. My idea is to start small ones in the UK. The "Rules" I thought up last night :

RULES OF CSC

1. No dealing. That is, none of the produce made by the CSC may be sold to people outside the CSC.

We realise that Growing With Intent To Supply carries a greater sentence and is considered a more criminal activity.

We disassociate from dealing. Any member found to have been dealing will be barred from the club and his/her

place will be offered to someone else.

2. All costs of the Grow, from buying seeds to electricity costs, shall be paid for and divided equally amongst the members.

This is the only money that should change hands in the club.

It shall be accounted for as though it was a Bona Fide business so all members can see where their money goes.

3. If any member other than the grower is arrested for possession, then they should face the authorities alone, but with lawyer costs taken out of the CSC funds.

If the Grower gets caught, all other members step up and share responsibility. The Cannabis Social club, once discovered by the Police, should show TOTAL

TRANSPARENCY of their intentions, actions and motives.

4. No Criminal Damage (EG rented property) or Theft of electricity shall be enacted in Growing the Cannabis. Both of these crimes are antisocial,

and we are a Social Club

5. The CSC is intended for eliminating the antisocial criminal element in Cannabis Cultivation. To avoid Gangsters.

Also to control and specifically cultivate various strains for their medical and/or recreational use (depends on member)

To cut down costs and know there is no sugar or sprayed plastic to add weight like a street dealer might do.

Signed by

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Since the new sentencing guidelines on February 27th this year, I am assuming that if presented with the CSC rules and membership cards etc, the Courts would allow the Club to share responsibility for the grow.

What do you think? Another Pipe Dream?

[Guerrillero]

In response to how illegal would it be the simple answer is very. However, it'd be very interesting to see how such a thing would develop and how the authorities would respond to it.

I'm afraid I'll have to admit I'd be unwilling to be a guinea pig myself. I suppose I just don't have the balls for it, but I'd have a lot of respect for anyone willing to consider putting their neck on the line to do it.

Edited July 3, 2012 by Guerrillero

[Guest weedmonsta]

there are already cannabis social clubs

[tengreenfingers]

I can certainly see the word "conspiracy" coming up on the charge sheet.

My neck will not be on the line for that either.

[Guerrillero]

^Exactly what I thought re "conspiracy". A club/movement would have to be large enough for the numbers to be unarrestable, ie extremely large, and operating simultaneously nationwide, for it to work.

Small scale in a few cities just wouldn't work, everyone could be nicked and put up on the same charges on the same court dates to cut costs and examples would be made.

Edited July 3, 2012 by Guerrillero

[mammoTHClone]

NOTES :

1/ Dealing : This means selling your CSC Cannabis to customers outside the CSC.

(If you want to share a bit of your stash with a friend or two and make a few pennies, do not tell the other members of the CSC or that would make them aiders and abetters. And anyway, you would be banned!)

But still, there's a difference between 1. Saying "Hey Charlie - I've got some lovely Hindu Kush here - it will be great for your Sciatica" ; and 2. Texting "Everybody - Got some lovely Hindu Kush in. Full of crystals. Fat bags"

2. Member's Forms

MEDICAL CONDITION (tick as appropriate):

Pain Lack of Appetite

Anxiety Depression

Stress Fatigue

Insomnia Migraines

Muscle Spasms Nausea

PMS Seizures

OR / Recreational

PREFERENCES

Specific Strains liked, Sativa/Indica Dominant; THC/CBN/CBD

Tobacco Joint/Pure Joint/Pipe/Bong/Vape/Ingested

CONSUMPTION

Per day/week/month/Season(13 weeks)

3. Pseudonyms.

Every member chooses a Pseudonym (username) to be known as so as to protect the identities of the others.

4. Accounts.

To be available for all members to look at if they so wish. It is kept in or near the Grow Room.

The members pay an initial amount which takes into account the cost of all the Grow equipment to start from scratch. At first it would be more

expensive to join as there will be stuff like the Lights, Tent etc. For a CSC with 5 members this could be £100 each! Ooooooh!!!!!

BUT ALL THE WEED IS FREE!!!!

The subsequent grows would be cheaper as only outlays such as seeds or cuttings and feed and electricity are needed. Maybe £40 each this time ...

But I suggest they still pay £100 with the extra money going towards lawyers' fees just in case.

ANYWAY, THE WEED IS STILL FREE

5. BUSTS

Firstly, hopefully the new Sentencing Guidelines will ensure a non-custodial sentence.

The plants and equipment will be confiscated (not fair!)

All members claim partial responsibility for the plants and grow equipment if the Grower is busted.

In Police Interviews be open and honest. Show them the accounts and membership forms with the Pseudonyms on them. Who has paid for what.

SHOW THEM THE RULES!!!

The Police should know that no dealing/supplying outside the cSC has occured.

6. PUBLICITY

If a CSC is busted, GET THE NEWS OUT! IF EVEN JUST ONE JOURNALIST IN THE BIG PAPERS NOTICES THIS AND WRITES ABOUT IT

THE CSCs will spread like wildfire Sorry bout the caps)

That's all I have for now.

Peace

[Dankness Monster]

Dose any one know what rules the Spanish ones went with.

Not that I'm saying there's any thing wrong with yours just want to know.

I would do it but only if there was about 30-40 other clubs in the country at the same time don't want to be the first in case courts make an example of you. and each club has to have about10-20 people in it. so if you do go court it's a big pain in the ass for them all with dirfent lawyer. If you in a grop any lower than 10 the police might just say your a gang..

[tengreenfingers]

"Firstly, hopefully the new Sentencing Guidelines will ensure a non-custodial sentence."

Not so sure about that.

[New Era Genetics]

Hi everyone,

a UK cannabis social club could be something very risky, and even though some do exist, it would not be like in Spain for example where they are more open there and the laws are not as harsh as in the UK, however here is a copy of the recommended code of conduct for European social clubs (I do NOT recommend or encourage ANYONE to start a social club in the UK)

EUROPEAN CANNABIS SOCIAL CLUBS

CODE OF CONDUCT

DECEMBER 2011

Due to the lack of a legal framework with regards to cannabis cultivation for personal use, we, cannabis consumers throughout Europe have initiated an own model of regulation and control.

This model, called the Cannabis Social Club, aims to prevent cannabis consumers from being involved in illegal activities and assures that certain requirements concerning public health and safety are being fulfilled. Cannabis Social Clubs (CSC) are registered, non-profit associations that are formed by adult people who consume cannabis. They can be set up legally in any country where cultivation of personal amounts of cannabis has been decriminalised. In countries where this is not yet the case, CSC’s can operate as an experiment in order to prepare for the moment when the laws on cannabis cultivation for personal use will change. According to article 12 of the Charter of Fundamental Human Rights of the European Union, “everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association at all levels”.

Cannabis Social Clubs organise the collective cultivation of an amount of cannabis that is exclusively meant for the private consumption of their members. The production capacity of a CSC is based on the expected level of yearly consumption of its members, increased with a reasonable buffer to counter the risk of failed harvest, theft, and provide for ‘emergency stash’ for people who consume cannabis for medicinal reasons. The internal rules of a CSC include a protocol about the management of this eventual surplus.

Before becoming member of a Cannabis Social Club, the applicant must state that he/she is a user of cannabis, or provide a medical report stating the diagnosis, to check that the person is diagnosed with a disease for which the use of cannabis is indicated, according to the regularly published lists by the International Association for Cannabis as Medicine (IACM).

Cannabis Social Clubs have a protocol for adhesion of new members that includes an explanation on their rights and duties, an indication of the estimated amount of consumption and a private conversation on the history of use. This allows the clubs to recognise problematic consumption (psychopathologies), and to respond to this situation. Cannabis Social Clubs apply an active policy of prevention of harms and risks and promotion of safer methods of consumption of cannabis by its members.

Cannabis Social Clubs take a comprehensive written record of consumption made by their members from collective farming, register in which they shall contain at least a membership number, the amounts withdrawn and the date of withdrawal. In this register personal data are ensured at all times. There will be an upper limit on the amounts that members may receive, in order to avoid the possibility of facilitating the use of third parties.

Cannabis Social Clubs take a comprehensive written record of production, in which the association shall certify the dates of the cycle of cultivation, the used methods of cultivation and the amounts collected and suitable for consumption. Inspections are carried out randomly by representatives of the association, to verify the location, safety measures and estimated volume of production.

The methods of cultivation, post-harvest treatment etc. shall meet up to the standards of biological agriculture with sustainable use of natural resources.

Once the harvest has been controlled and the final production volume quantified, the association will issue a written authorization to one of its representatives to proceed to transport the crop product from the place where it is cultivated to the premises where the controlled distribution is carried out.

Cannabis Social Clubs are characterised by transparency, democracy and non-profitability. They function as an association, with complete openness about financial arrangements to their members, so the members can see how the costs are calculated and the money is spent. CSC’s organize a general assembly at least once a year, where annual reports are discussed and approved. These reports include a complete balance of incomes and expenses in the past fiscal year, according to the rules established for this purpose.

Cannabis Social Clubs may decide to employ staff members, who can receive reasonable remuneration. Thus they contribute to the creation of employment, economic re-activation and savings on the budget for law enforcement.

Unlike cannabis distributors who operate on the illegal market, Cannabis Social Clubs are willing to enter into dialogue with authorities to provide insight in their working methods, in the framework of the elaboration of a legal regulation of cannabis. Local authorities should have an interest in such a regulation, which will enable them to control the CSC”s in order to ensure their transparent and safe way of working. Thus, they create an alternative for the black market, prevent the access of minors to cannabis, help to reduce public expenditure and generate tax revenue. CSC’s have an interest in such a regulation as it will ensure the legal status of their organisation and its activities.

Edited July 3, 2012 by New Era Genetics

[Hir]

More than 4 stoned people congregating in a room together! Are you mad!

[qualitynotquantity]

your admitting to supply maby only social supply but its still supply and could gain you a prison sentence, think i'd rather just have a cultivating charge meself, just my 2pence worth... qnq

[mammoTHClone]

OK well a friend of mine lived in Spain last yr and he knows a little about them.

If a Grower is busted in Spain, the Police have the phone numbers of other members who they phone up n say "Yup those are my 4 plants officer"

As for charges of conspiracy - I assume that is the first line of approach by the prosecution. I would be more interested in starting

a case precedent for a proper Cannabis Social Club, and appealing to a higher court. Joint share of a crop is surely not the same

as a gang who grow a large amount to sell to the public?

I need legal advice I think . Any lawyers here?

[tengreenfingers]

I completely agree with the idea of communal growing and sharing of a crop... but there's a MASSIVE difference between Spain and the UK.

The law.

I can see a CSC going to a high court and setting a precedent, and I expect that precedent would be that they are illegal and everyone involved is guilty of all manner of crimes including conspiracy and cultivation.

The CSCs in Spain use Spanish law to push their rights forwards, to do anything like that here you would need first to identify something in UK law that allows a group to act in a way that individuals can not, and then base a club on that.

Spanish law is not UK law though, so as much as the CSCs in Spain seem to be doing well, I think if you took that model and set it up in the UK you'd find yourself in hot water as soon as someone was caught and mentioned the club.

[mammoTHClone]

Thanks New Era Genetics, that was just what I was after even though I didn't know it. Hee hee.

Well obviously this is all for hypothetical porpoises.

[Hir]

I like it, in a way.