A drugs campaigner is set to open a 'cannabis social club' in Manchester.

Colin Davies - once jailed for drug trafficking and famous for handing over a bouquet of flowers containing cannabis to the Queen - is heading for another collision with the authorities after announcing his intention to open The New Way Cafe on Tariff Street in January.

He said cannabis wouldn't be traded on the property although members would be invited to bring their own drugs for personal consumption.

Possession and supply of cannabis remains against the law despite long-standing campaigns to legalise the drug.

It was reclassified as a Class B drug in 2009 after it had been downgraded for the previous five years to Class C. Possession of it carries a maximum sentence of five years in jail.

Mr Davies, 56, said: "There will be tea and coffee and smokers will be welcome. “We're just providing a meeting point for people."

A landlord has agreed to lease him a former bar on Tariff Street which features three rooms and a kitchen, he said.

"We just want to make it safe for everybody. This is straight above the line. There will be no sales of cannabis until the government says it is legal to do so. Manchester is full of it anyway down Oldham Street and Piccadilly Gardens. It's everywhere. There will be no alcohol. People can come, have a coffee, play chess, chat and smoke.”

Members will be charged £35 to join the club.

Mr Davies was jailed for three years in 2002 after a jury found him guilty of importing and supplying drugs.

He had opened Dutch Experience in Stockport, the UK's first ever cannabis cafe, amid a blaze of publicity in September, 2001. Police raided it within ten minutes of its launch.

In court prosecutors said the cafe was in fact an elaborate smokescreen for the trafficking of drugs from Holland.

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The father-of-two first came to the attention of the police in 1998 when he was charged with unlawful possession of drugs but he was acquitted after claiming he grew marijuana in his flat in Stockport to relieve back pain.

The former joiner fractured three bones in his spine following a fall in 1995.

He went on to become a central figure in a national campaign to legalise dope and set up the Medical Marijuana Co-operative which involved the sale of cannabis to members on a not-for-profit basis.

He faced more drugs charges in 1999 but was cleared after claiming his action didn't amount to unlawful drug dealing.

He hit the headlines again in 2000 when he gave the Queen a bouquet of flowers which was actually cannabis. He escaped any legal action.

After he was jailed in 2002, Euro MP Chris Davies slammed UK drugs laws and heralded his namesake as a martyr.

"The world has changed a little bit since then. I think the time is right now," said Mr Davies, who described the current law on cannabis as 'ridiculous'.

Chief Inspector Gareth Parkin from North Manchester Division said: “We are aware of the proposed use of the premise and if we identify any offences, we will take the appropriate action.”

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