Disability campaigner Chris Baldwin, 53, was jailed for six months at Chichester Crown Court on Friday 9 January 2004 for running the Dutch-style Quantum Leaf café in Rowlands Road, Worthing, fronted by the Bongchuffa cannabis paraphernalia shop.[1] About 30 supporters watched from the public gallery, and officers cleared it after angry shouts when Judge John Sessions passed sentence.[1]
Baldwin had pleaded guilty to allowing cannabis to be used at a premises and having cannabis with intent to supply.[2] At the same hearing Mark Benson, who worked in Bongchuffa, admitted permitting premises to be used for smoking cannabis, possession and cultivation, and received a four-month night-time curfew; Winston Matthews, who worked behind the café counter, admitted possession with intent to supply, possession, supply and cultivation, and received a four-month suspended sentence.[1] The judge accepted Baldwin had opened the café as a political statement and that all three used cannabis to ease serious medical conditions; Baldwin has spastic paraplegia and had smoked cannabis for about 30 years.[1]
Police had raided the café on 27 November 2002, weeks after Baldwin publicly announced its opening, seizing an estimated £2,000 of cannabis and more than £4,000 in cash; Worthing police then ran a six-month operation against open dealing from the premises.[2] The café sold 13 types of marijuana alongside hash cakes, ready-rolled joints, sandwiches and soft drinks.[2] Baldwin was freed after six and a half weeks wearing an electronic tag, and a later hearing set confiscation at £8,508 already seized by police after finding the café had left him in debt rather than profit.[3][2]
