Gary Youds has spent nearly 20 years opening cannabis cafes in Liverpool, getting raided, getting jailed, and refusing to stop.
Gary Youds is best known as the UK’s “cannabis martyr.” That’s because he has continually sacrificed himself for the cause of cannabis legalization. He is currently spending his sixth stint in jail for operating an illegal cannabis cafe in Liverpool.
In February, the crusader was arrested and remanded in His Majesty’s Prison Liverpool for defiantly allowing his patrons to congregate at the Chillin’ Rooms in Holt Road, near Liverpool Football Club’s Anfield stadium.
Police raided the premises and seized “cannabis in various forms, including cannabis brownies, cookies and sweets” along with Chillin’ Rooms branded merchandise. Youds, 56, was charged with possession with intent to supply cannabis, and permitting use of premises for smoking cannabis, which is a class B drug in the UK.
The second charge was later dropped, but Youds will be sentenced on the remaining charge on 28 April at Liverpool Crown Court.
From prison, speaking through his sister, he told High Times: “I’m fighting for freedom for all.”
For Youds, who has racked up countless convictions and more than two years cumulatively behind bars, incarceration seems like little more than an occupational hazard in his quest to free the weed.
“The revolution will be cultivated,” he told High Times in an interview prior to his arrest. “I’m here to set the standard and when everyone comes up we’ll have an amazing industry. I’m ready to roll out my self-seeding business model nationwide, and literally grow the economy.”
His sister Paula Youds said “Gary is not a criminal” but simply a man relentlessly following “his dream” regardless of the consequences. “I hope in my brothers’ lifetime things change,” she told High Times. “A …
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Author: Mattha Busby / High Times
