LittleDabbie
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I just returned from the High Times Cannabis Cup in Amsterdam, and thought I might share some thoughts about the state of the legalization efforts in the Netherlands, as contrasted to the US.
The Coffee Shops
Amsterdam is famous for its coffee shops, where those over 18 are permitted to purchase and enjoy marijuana. But in recent years the Dutch government has taken steps to close a few of the shops, and limit the amount which one can purchase to five grams from any one shop. Yet, despite these changes, coffee shops remain plentiful and high quality marijuana remains convenient to anyone in Amsterdam.
Importantly for us Americans, contrary to the public statements issued by government officials in recent months declaring the coffee shops are off-limits to foreigners, fear not; there are coffee shops in nearly every block in downtown Amsterdam and I visited at least eight of them during my five days in the country, and never once did anyone ask if I were a citizen of the Netherlands. And in many of the coffee shops I visited, there were several other American tourists also enjoying this unique experience, along with plenty of locals as well.
Similarly, one day we took the train to the Hague, where, after lunch at a lovely restaurant on the main square, we also stopped by a coffee shop where no one asked or cared about our citizenship. Indeed, it appears the only areas of the country where the recent ban against selling marijuana to non-Dutch citizens is actually applied or enforced is in those cities that are on or near the border with other European countries, and even there I am told the ban is unevenly enforced.
In response to public complaints from government officials from some of these neighboring countries (Europe has its own “reefer-madness” proponents), the Netherlands decided to take a public stand against what is sometimes referred to as “drug tourism,” and they issued the ban against selling to visitors from other countries. But like their laws against selling marijuana (in coffee shops or anywhere else), their ban against selling to foreigners is largely ignored, and totally ignored in Amsterdam.
Contrast this to both Colorado and Washington, where state officials have put out the welcome mat and invited tourists from other states to visit their states and enjoy the legal marijuana, while within the state.
Technically coffee shops in Holland are not legally permitted to sell cannabis, although for several decades, going back to the 1970s, the Dutch government has permitted hundreds of coffee shops throughout the country to operate in a legal gray market, reminiscent of the less-than-fully-legal medical marijuana program in California.
In Holland, there is no legal supply for the marijuana sold in the coffee shops, and they joke about the “immaculate conception” that allows each of them to sell up to five grams of marijuana to anyone over 18 years of age, seven days a week and for some of them, 24-hours per day. (Individuals are also allowed to visit as many coffee shops as they wish, purchasing up to five grams at each dispensary.) In California, gray-market growers (claiming to be part of a non-profit collective or cooperative) sell bulk amounts of marijuana to dispensaries who in turn sell it to anyone with a medical recommendation, alleging that those customers have joined their (supposedly) not-for-profit collective or cooperative, simply because the customer signs a statement to that effect when they enter the dispensary.
The efforts to which authorities in The Netherlands and in California have gone to stretch the law to permit most people to be able to purchase marijuana is eerily similar; yet in neither jurisdiction have those same officials shown the political courage to actually legalize and regulate the cultivation and sale of marijuana to adults. For reasons only they could explain, they prefer to permit a rather massive industry to exist without many controls or clear guidelines as to what will or will not be tolerated. The result is confusion and uncertainty for those in the marijuana business in both jurisdictions.
Clearly one area in which the Dutch are ahead of the legalization models being tried in a handful of states in the US is in permitting people to gather in a pub-like setting and smoke marijuana with their friends. Although the coffee shops in The Netherlands are not permitted to sell alcohol products, they do sell coffee and expresso and soft drinks, and some offer snacks and light food, and they include tables where visitors can sit and enjoy the marijuana they just purchased with their friends. And there are coffee shops to suit the tastes of everyone, from simple shops reminiscent of the early coffee shops catering to the hippies and counterculture of the 1970s, to far more upscale venues catering to the middle-class and upper-middle class tourists and locals.
Unfortunately, in both Colorado and Washington in the US, where they have now implemented their legalization systems, there are no social clubs or similar venues where marijuana smokers can go to legally hang-out with their friends and enjoy their legal marijuana. It can only be smoked in a private setting, and the authorities have, to date, been strict in defining what is or is not a private setting. This is especially challenging for out-of-staters who are welcomed as marijuana tourists in both states, since most hotels now ban all smoking, including tobacco, and charge an exorbitant fee to clean any room of the smell of marijuana, if a guest is caught ignoring the ban on in-room smoking.
Keith Stroup NORML
This is an issue that will continue to be a problem in the US, and will undoubtedly be temporarily solved by gray-market social clubs available only to those in the know (or those who have a well-informed hotel concierge), until elected officials or state regulators take the necessary steps to provide a legal alternative. The millions of Americans who smoke marijuana are simply not going to limit our marijuana smoking only to our homes.
The 2014 High Times Cannabis Cup
Those of us who attended the 2014 High Times Cannabis Cup may have witnessed the most challenging event in an impressive 27-year tradition of celebrating the world’s best marijuana and judging the relative quality of scores of competing strains that have been entered into competition each year. While most years the Cup has been treated as a positive event that brings thousands of fans of marijuana to Amsterdam to spend their money, this year the local officials, led by Mayor Eberhard van der Lann, appeared to do everything in their power to kill the event.
While the Cannabis Cup did eventually end up being held in the Melkweg (the Milky Way in English), a popular music venue and cultural center in Amsterdam, those arrangements were only made at the last minute after two earlier venues had cancelled (one only hours before the event was to have begun) because of political pressure from the mayor. And the scores of exhibitors who annually display their wares each day as part of the Cup were not permitted to participate, told they would all be arrested if they attempted to exhibit at the event this year! While cannabis-related exhibits are now commonplace in many American cities, for the moment they appear to be unwelcome in Amsterdam
That’s right; Amsterdam, the city that has done more to bring marijuana smoking above ground than any location in the world, is now being run by a mayor who did everything in his power to shut the event down entirely, causing the program to be cancelled entirely on one day, and sending in the tax police to seize the cash proceeds from the sale of Cannabis Cup tickets and memorabilia on another day. The great High Times staff, including especially their long-time General Counsel Michael Kennedy, along with Editor-In-Chief Dan Sky and Senior Cultivation Editor Danny Danko, worked tirelessly to respond to every new barrier placed in their way, sometimes rearranging the program only hours before the scheduled start; and keeping the essence of the Cannabis Cup — the judging of the various strains of marijuana and the final awards ceremony for the winners — up and running with a fabulous final night on Thanksgiving evening.
What might have been a disappointing experience for those who had come thousands of miles to be part of the Cup, turned out to be a lovely experience despite the interference by the local politicians. What could have been an embarrassing political set-back for High Times and the legalization movement was turned into the event that no one could stop –- and no one could stop talking about — all over Amsterdam. As High Times says, “our love of cannabis and insistence on freedom has turned what could have been a defeat into victory.”
I’ve been to two prior Cannabis Cups in Amsterdam, the last in 2003. And, of course, it would have been nice if, as in most years, the bustling exhibition hall full of vendors of all things cannabis-related, could have functioned as the gathering place for attendees as they took a break from their daily coffee shop crawl, to meet with other cannabis devotees from across Europe and the world. But with the exception of Wednesday, when the Melkweg was completely closed by authorities, that venue, which included a private room where smokers were allowed to gather and share their marijuana, as well as listen to the various speakers, served the purpose of a common area for attendees. The indomitable human spirit , as evidenced by those in attendance at this year’s Cup, is simply too strong to be turned back by those who would seek to stand in the way of legalized marijuana.
I am proud to have been a participant at the 2014 High Times Amsterdam Cannabis Cup.
marijuana . com/news/2014/12/the-coffee-shops-and-the-amsterdam-cannabis-cup/
The Coffee Shops
Amsterdam is famous for its coffee shops, where those over 18 are permitted to purchase and enjoy marijuana. But in recent years the Dutch government has taken steps to close a few of the shops, and limit the amount which one can purchase to five grams from any one shop. Yet, despite these changes, coffee shops remain plentiful and high quality marijuana remains convenient to anyone in Amsterdam.
Importantly for us Americans, contrary to the public statements issued by government officials in recent months declaring the coffee shops are off-limits to foreigners, fear not; there are coffee shops in nearly every block in downtown Amsterdam and I visited at least eight of them during my five days in the country, and never once did anyone ask if I were a citizen of the Netherlands. And in many of the coffee shops I visited, there were several other American tourists also enjoying this unique experience, along with plenty of locals as well.
Similarly, one day we took the train to the Hague, where, after lunch at a lovely restaurant on the main square, we also stopped by a coffee shop where no one asked or cared about our citizenship. Indeed, it appears the only areas of the country where the recent ban against selling marijuana to non-Dutch citizens is actually applied or enforced is in those cities that are on or near the border with other European countries, and even there I am told the ban is unevenly enforced.
In response to public complaints from government officials from some of these neighboring countries (Europe has its own “reefer-madness” proponents), the Netherlands decided to take a public stand against what is sometimes referred to as “drug tourism,” and they issued the ban against selling to visitors from other countries. But like their laws against selling marijuana (in coffee shops or anywhere else), their ban against selling to foreigners is largely ignored, and totally ignored in Amsterdam.
Contrast this to both Colorado and Washington, where state officials have put out the welcome mat and invited tourists from other states to visit their states and enjoy the legal marijuana, while within the state.
Technically coffee shops in Holland are not legally permitted to sell cannabis, although for several decades, going back to the 1970s, the Dutch government has permitted hundreds of coffee shops throughout the country to operate in a legal gray market, reminiscent of the less-than-fully-legal medical marijuana program in California.
In Holland, there is no legal supply for the marijuana sold in the coffee shops, and they joke about the “immaculate conception” that allows each of them to sell up to five grams of marijuana to anyone over 18 years of age, seven days a week and for some of them, 24-hours per day. (Individuals are also allowed to visit as many coffee shops as they wish, purchasing up to five grams at each dispensary.) In California, gray-market growers (claiming to be part of a non-profit collective or cooperative) sell bulk amounts of marijuana to dispensaries who in turn sell it to anyone with a medical recommendation, alleging that those customers have joined their (supposedly) not-for-profit collective or cooperative, simply because the customer signs a statement to that effect when they enter the dispensary.
The efforts to which authorities in The Netherlands and in California have gone to stretch the law to permit most people to be able to purchase marijuana is eerily similar; yet in neither jurisdiction have those same officials shown the political courage to actually legalize and regulate the cultivation and sale of marijuana to adults. For reasons only they could explain, they prefer to permit a rather massive industry to exist without many controls or clear guidelines as to what will or will not be tolerated. The result is confusion and uncertainty for those in the marijuana business in both jurisdictions.
Clearly one area in which the Dutch are ahead of the legalization models being tried in a handful of states in the US is in permitting people to gather in a pub-like setting and smoke marijuana with their friends. Although the coffee shops in The Netherlands are not permitted to sell alcohol products, they do sell coffee and expresso and soft drinks, and some offer snacks and light food, and they include tables where visitors can sit and enjoy the marijuana they just purchased with their friends. And there are coffee shops to suit the tastes of everyone, from simple shops reminiscent of the early coffee shops catering to the hippies and counterculture of the 1970s, to far more upscale venues catering to the middle-class and upper-middle class tourists and locals.
Unfortunately, in both Colorado and Washington in the US, where they have now implemented their legalization systems, there are no social clubs or similar venues where marijuana smokers can go to legally hang-out with their friends and enjoy their legal marijuana. It can only be smoked in a private setting, and the authorities have, to date, been strict in defining what is or is not a private setting. This is especially challenging for out-of-staters who are welcomed as marijuana tourists in both states, since most hotels now ban all smoking, including tobacco, and charge an exorbitant fee to clean any room of the smell of marijuana, if a guest is caught ignoring the ban on in-room smoking.
Keith Stroup NORML
This is an issue that will continue to be a problem in the US, and will undoubtedly be temporarily solved by gray-market social clubs available only to those in the know (or those who have a well-informed hotel concierge), until elected officials or state regulators take the necessary steps to provide a legal alternative. The millions of Americans who smoke marijuana are simply not going to limit our marijuana smoking only to our homes.
The 2014 High Times Cannabis Cup
Those of us who attended the 2014 High Times Cannabis Cup may have witnessed the most challenging event in an impressive 27-year tradition of celebrating the world’s best marijuana and judging the relative quality of scores of competing strains that have been entered into competition each year. While most years the Cup has been treated as a positive event that brings thousands of fans of marijuana to Amsterdam to spend their money, this year the local officials, led by Mayor Eberhard van der Lann, appeared to do everything in their power to kill the event.
While the Cannabis Cup did eventually end up being held in the Melkweg (the Milky Way in English), a popular music venue and cultural center in Amsterdam, those arrangements were only made at the last minute after two earlier venues had cancelled (one only hours before the event was to have begun) because of political pressure from the mayor. And the scores of exhibitors who annually display their wares each day as part of the Cup were not permitted to participate, told they would all be arrested if they attempted to exhibit at the event this year! While cannabis-related exhibits are now commonplace in many American cities, for the moment they appear to be unwelcome in Amsterdam
That’s right; Amsterdam, the city that has done more to bring marijuana smoking above ground than any location in the world, is now being run by a mayor who did everything in his power to shut the event down entirely, causing the program to be cancelled entirely on one day, and sending in the tax police to seize the cash proceeds from the sale of Cannabis Cup tickets and memorabilia on another day. The great High Times staff, including especially their long-time General Counsel Michael Kennedy, along with Editor-In-Chief Dan Sky and Senior Cultivation Editor Danny Danko, worked tirelessly to respond to every new barrier placed in their way, sometimes rearranging the program only hours before the scheduled start; and keeping the essence of the Cannabis Cup — the judging of the various strains of marijuana and the final awards ceremony for the winners — up and running with a fabulous final night on Thanksgiving evening.
What might have been a disappointing experience for those who had come thousands of miles to be part of the Cup, turned out to be a lovely experience despite the interference by the local politicians. What could have been an embarrassing political set-back for High Times and the legalization movement was turned into the event that no one could stop –- and no one could stop talking about — all over Amsterdam. As High Times says, “our love of cannabis and insistence on freedom has turned what could have been a defeat into victory.”
I’ve been to two prior Cannabis Cups in Amsterdam, the last in 2003. And, of course, it would have been nice if, as in most years, the bustling exhibition hall full of vendors of all things cannabis-related, could have functioned as the gathering place for attendees as they took a break from their daily coffee shop crawl, to meet with other cannabis devotees from across Europe and the world. But with the exception of Wednesday, when the Melkweg was completely closed by authorities, that venue, which included a private room where smokers were allowed to gather and share their marijuana, as well as listen to the various speakers, served the purpose of a common area for attendees. The indomitable human spirit , as evidenced by those in attendance at this year’s Cup, is simply too strong to be turned back by those who would seek to stand in the way of legalized marijuana.
I am proud to have been a participant at the 2014 High Times Amsterdam Cannabis Cup.
marijuana . com/news/2014/12/the-coffee-shops-and-the-amsterdam-cannabis-cup/
