The man behind the cannabis cafe charged with a serious drug offense – NRK Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country

On Saturday last week, Roar Mikalsen opened the cannabis cafe Norske Tilstander in Oslo.

Over a hundred people turned up, and Mikalsen estimates that he sold over half a kilo of cannabis for around NOK 50,000.

Now he is charged with a serious drug offence.

Punishable by imprisonment

– The case is currently coded as gross infringement. But the coding will be considered in more detail when a prosecution decision is to be made, says Camilla Brekke, the prosecution officer in the case.

She will not say anything specific about why they consider the case to be a serious drug offence, other than that it depends on an overall assessment.

If charges are brought for breach of this provision, Mikalsen can expect a stay in prison.

– The sale of drugs is normally punished with unconditional imprisonment, says Brekke.

The police decided not to prosecute the buyers in the case. Only the seller was reviewed.

– The sale was closed on Saturday morning. People who were at the sale were turned away by the police, says chief of staff in Oslo police district Harald Nilssen.

Wants 22 days in court

Mikalsen is a leader in the Alliance for Rights-Oriented Drug Policy (AROD). The cafe’s opening day, April 20, is known as the unofficial weed day.

– What did you want to achieve?

– The reason for the cafe is that for 15 years the state has failed to take responsibility for those persecuted in the drug field.

Mikalsen believes that politicians have rejected repeated reports that punishment for drug use should be abolished. He says drugs must be treated equally with tobacco and alcohol.

Now he hopes for a trial and says that he has collected documentary evidence and witnesses he plans to present.

– We have documented a connection between the drug policy and the arbitrary persecutions of earlier times, says Mikalsen.

If the case comes to court, he will ask for full evidence about this and 22 days in court.

– More and more sensational funds

Mikalsen says that he was surprised by the number of people who turned up at the cafe.

– I shared a post on social media and on X (Twitter). From there it has only spread, despite the fact that many did not want it to gain attention.

When asked if he has other actions planned, he replies:

– It happens spontaneously along the way, based on a need to push the legal processes forward. I think every year that it will be the last, but then things happen that make me continue.

The cannabis cafe was not the first time Mikalsen has demonstrated over drug policy through civil disobedience. In the past, he has invited people to distribute the illegal drug outside both the Attorney General’s office and the police station in Oslo.

– I have been at it for 20 years and used more and more sensational means to get a debate going.

He had flagged Saturday’s stunt in advance, and therefore says he thought the police would come sooner.

The chief of staff in the Oslo police district, Harald Nilssen, they say were made aware of the event, but that they did not receive specific information about where the event was to be held until the day itself.