Raking in profits, club where guests openly smoke cannabis
A CANNABIS club where members openly smoke the illegal drug has registered as a limited company and is making up to £3,000 a night.
Teesside Cannabis Club, run by convicted drug dealer Michael Fisher, allows users to gather to light up and play pool.
It claims that there is no buying and selling of drugs at the club but that it makes money through the sale of refreshments and tickets to special events. Subscriptions bring in £5,250 per year from the 150 members, who each pay £35.
Mr Fisher, who also goes by the name Ziggy Mustafa Spliff, received a 36-week suspended prison sentence in 2009 for possession of cannabis with intent to supply and has a further offence of possession of drugs from 2011, plus 36 cautions.
The 33-year-old, who has been running the club for four years, wants to expand across the UK, claiming ‘the tide is turning’ following a visit by North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Arfon Jones.
Mr Jones said: ‘There are pubs and clubs where people go and drink alcohol so why shouldn’t consenting adults be able to use cannabis recreationally?’
The club, based on an industrial estate in Middlesbrough, is ‘very open’ with the police, and hosts up to 180 people at its gatherings. It has been visited by TV presenter Jeremy Kyle and rapper Professor Green. It has registered with Companies House as ‘Teesside C.C.’, making no reference to cannabis in any paperwork, and will have to pay tax.
David Green, of social policy think-tank Civitas, criticised police for allowing cannabis to be smoked openly. He said: ‘Cannabis is a psychoactive substance that causes serious mental health problems for many who take it. The local police appear to be turning a blind eye to flagrant and repeated breaking of the law.’
Cleveland Police said: ‘We don’t condone any production or supply of cannabis and would investigate incidents should they be reported to us.’