A Liverpool businessman fought for 17-years to keep the doors of the city's first Amsterdam-style cannabis cafe open.
Yesterday, well-known cannabis legislation campaigner Gary Youds, 53, pleaded guilty to drugs offences at Liverpool Crown Court. The dad had been on his way to supply a dying man with cannabis oil, free of charge, when he was stopped by police in October 2020.
During a raid on his home on Cavan Road in Norris Green on February 19, 2022, police discovered a grow of six large cannabis plants, as well as a quantity of cannabis with a street value of up to £7,000. During a police interview, Youds said he was "saving the city by producing the fruits of the earth for the people".
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Youds has numerous previous convictions for cannabis-related offences dating back to 2005. Yesterday, Judge David Swinnerton found he had also been "commercially benefitting" from his farm and jailed him for three years.
Sentencing, the judge said: "You are plainly someone who genuinely thinks that cannabis should be legalised and it has beneficial effects for people. There are ways you can campaign to change the law which are lawful, but you have quite deliberately chosen to flout the law time after time after time.
"You have been described as a cannabis martyr. It is not a normal case of someone out on the streets selling £10 bags."
In the early Noughties, changes in UK legislation saw cannabis downgraded from a Class B drug to a Class C. This prompted a number of attempts to bring an Amsterdam-style cannabis cafe culture in the UK, including the very first - The Dutch Experience, opening in Stockport in 2001.
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Prompted by this, in 2002, Youds hit the headlines when he first applied to Liverpool Council to convert a former taxi office into a private members' club for cannabis smokers. When his plans were rejected by councillors, the former property developer decided to set one up anyway, opening the Tea Cafe on Holt Road, Kensington in March 2005.
Soon after opening, the cafe was raided by police and its owner arrested. Several customers were cautioned for possession of cannabis after the police raid, while Youds was given a conditional discharge after pleading guilty for allowing the premises to be used for the taking of a controlled drug.
Unrepentant, Youds reopened the cafe despite being served with a 28-day closure notice by Liverpool Council. Even though the cafe being only open for six weeks, it had gained 400 members.
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Telling the ECHO opening the cafe was his life's dream, the former property developer, said: "I have invested six years of planning and a lot of money into this venture and I am proud of what we have achieved.
"It's clean, safe and unthreatening, inside this cafe there is no violence or abuse of any sort. We are not here to antagonise the authorities we just want to be left alone.
"When we were raided the police were shocked - they said it was the most peaceful raid they have ever carried out."
Despite mixed feelings from nearby residents, Youds - who had spent £60,000 on the business - invited members of the residents association to view the cafe for themselves. One of the members told the ECHO: "We were utterly amazed. It's very nice inside and he has obviously spent a lot of money.
"Of course, it is still illegal what he is doing. He should just open a wine bar or something.
"We were offered the premises for our meetings, alongside the regular customers - I don't think that would be appropriate. Most people now seem quite happy."
Renamed as the Chillin' Rooms, Youds was jailed for 12-months in 2006 for drugs offences after repeatedly flouting laws banning Amsterdam-style cafes. Despite numerous raids, the cafe reopened again.
In 2015, officers raided the cafe and discovered £11,000 of cannabis, plus grinders and bongs. Photos taken inside the cafe showed a pool table and flat screen TV.
A sign on the wall above a counter lists the types of cannabis on offer, including Super Silver Haze, Amnesia Haze, Cheese, Kush and Pollen/Hash, with "bifters" costing £5. Another photo shows the plush cafe sold "Mango Haze Crispy Cornflake Cakes" – with a quarter of an ounce of cannabis used in the batch – for either £2 or £5.
Further images also revealed cannabis-themed t-shirts available for sale, with rows of tables and seats for customers. In January 2017, Youds was sentenced to nine-months in jail after being caught running the illegal business for a third time.
In 2020, a free man once more, Youds spoke to the ECHO about what it was like running the Chillin' Rooms and why he had no regrets. He said: "It was the ultimate chilling room. It was free from crime, it was unique and there was nowhere like it, it was like one in a million.
"It was the light at the end of the tunnel and thousands of people come and went there. I'm proud of what I created, I really am.
"It was a private place, you had to be invited by a friend, we didn't have any signs-up, we didn't have any marketing, it was strictly word-of-mouth."
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