For international travelers, Amsterdam has long served as a kind of nirvana. Considered a forward-thinking capital light years ahead of the rest of the world, much of the city's exceptional status is due its coffee shops -- essentially marijuana bars -- where smoking pot is perfectly legal. Coupled with other liberal sex and drug laws that have ensured a level of tolerance no European city can rival, Amsterdam has acted for many as a role model of what an enlightened 21st-century city should be. [continues 1721 words]
MAASTRICHT, Netherlands - Watched over by a contented Mona Lisa with a large reefer between her lips, clients of the Smoky Boat offer a cozy picture of peace, playing backgammon and sipping juice between puffs from cigarettes laced with hashish or marijuana. The tranquillity, however, could come to an abrupt end. Marc Josemans, the owner of the Smoky Boat, a cannabis cafe on a docked river barge in Maastricht, said he might soon be packing up his menu of pungent "Nirvana Special," "Silver Haze" and "Super Skunk." [continues 1073 words]
MAASTRICHT, The Netherlands -- Watched over by a content Mona Lisa with a large reefer between her lips, clients of the Smoky Boat offer a cozy picture of peace, playing backgammon and sipping juice between puffs from cigarettes laced with hashish or marijuana. The tranquillity, however, could come to an abrupt end. Marc Josemans, the owner of the Smoky Boat, a cannabis cafe on a docked river barge here in Maastricht, said he might soon be packing up his menu of pungent "Nirvana Special," "Silver Haze" and "Super Skunk." [continues 1078 words]
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - The Dutch justice minister on Thursday fended off a proposal to liberalize the Netherlands' marijuana policy - -- for the time being. The minister, Piet Hein Donner, opposed allowing large-scale farming of marijuana in a pilot project near Maastricht. Under the 30-year-old Dutch tolerance policy, marijuana is technically illegal, but users are not prosecuted for possessing small amounts, and it is openly sold in coffee shops. [end]
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands -- The Dutch justice minister yesterday fended off a proposal to further liberalize the Netherlands' marijuana policy - -- for the time being. The minister, Piet Hein Donner, opposed allowing large-scale farming of marijuana in a pilot project near the southern city of Maastricht. Donner told the legislature in The Hague that allowing regulated farming would amount to outright legalization, which he said was unacceptable under Dutch law and international treaties. He signalled he was ready to resign rather than carry out the proposal. [continues 84 words]
The Netherlands' justice minister yesterday fended off further liberalisation of the country's cannabis policy. Under Dutch law, "coffee shops" sell cannabis, but police crack down on growers. In December the minister, Piet Hein Donner, reluctantly agreed to MPs' requests to consider allowing the large-scale farming of cannabis in a pilot project near Maastricht. But yesterday he told MPs that if they wanted to allow cultivation, "then you need to find a different kind of justice minister". The key coalition party VVD appeared to swing behind him in order to avert a cabinet crisis. [end]
To most of the outside world, it is known as the dull Dutch market town where the treaty that created the European Union was signed in 1992. Small wonder then, that the bulk of Maastricht's foreign visitors come not for the history, but for the abundance of Amsterdam-style "coffee shops" selling marijuana. Now, however, fed up at the growing numbers of drug tourists, Maastricht plans to move up to half of the offending cafes to the Belgian border - a scheme that has tested the spirit of European integration to its limit. [continues 431 words]
AMSTERDAM - Dutch children as young as 12 are being treated for addiction to a powerful home-grown cannabis up to 20 times stronger than imported varieties, an addiction clinic has revealed. But while the age of regular and dependent cannabis users has dropped sharply in recent years, the dangers and health hazards of soft drugs have been "completely underestimated" by parents caught "in a flower-power time warp", addiction specialist Dr Romeo Ashruf said. It was not unusual for children as young as 12 using "nederwiet" to be referred to drugs clinics by their GPs for addiction, said Ashruf. [continues 312 words]
Dutch schoolchildren as young as 12 are being treated for addiction to a powerful home-grown marijuana which is up to 20 times stronger than imported varieties, an addiction clinic in the Netherlands has revealed. But while the age of regular and dependent cannabis users has dropped sharply in recent years, the dangers and health hazards of soft drugs have been "completely underestimated" by parents caught "in a flower- power time warp", Dr Romeo Ashruf, an addiction specialist, said. The cannabis that Dutch children take, nederwiet, is produced in Holland and is up to 20 times stronger than imported varieties, he told Network 2's Bij ons Thuis television programme last night. It was not unusual for children as young as 12 to be addicted to cannabis and referred to drugs clinics by their GPs, said Dr Ashruf. [continues 425 words]
Amsterdam's "no smoking cannabis" signs have proved so popular with souvenir hunters the authorities are selling replicas. The sign in the De Baarsjes district has had to be replaced three times in a week, said Rinze van Opstal, a local official, but more than 350 would-be purchasers have already ordered replicas at 90 euros ($123) each. "It is an overwhelming success, we were expecting between 10 and 20 potential buyers," he said. The proceeds will go to charity. The ordinance banning the smoking of joints around the Mercatorplein square came into effect on Feb. 1 in a bid to stop trouble from youths getting high and loitering. It was the first to ban cannabis smoking in public in the Netherlands. [end]
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands -- Paul Wilhelm speaks about marijuana the way a vintner might discuss wine. He talks of aroma, taste and texture, of flowering periods, the pros and cons of hydroponic cultivation. Wilhelm's connoisseurship might earn him a long prison sentence in the United States, but here in the Netherlands, he's just another taxpaying businessman. He owns a long-established pot emporium -- the Dutch call them "coffee shops" -- where customers can sidle up to the bar, peruse a detailed menu, and choose from 22 variations of fragrant marijuana and 18 types of potent hashish. [continues 1299 words]
A prestigious gathering of scientists and researchers met in September in Leiden, The Netherlands, where the International Association for Cannabis as Medicine biennial conference heard first-hand reports of tumor reducing effects and other benefits of marijuana and cannabinoids. Cannabinoids are compounds found in the cannabis plant. Endocannabinoids are naturally occuring compounds in the human body that are similar in structure and effect to those in cannabis. Much of the funding for the research projects was funded by government agencies such as NIDA and were designed to look for harmful effects rather than health benefits, which skewed the information somewhat. Nonetheless, significant benefits and relatively few harms were revealed. In fact, the marijuana smokers in general appeared pretty normal when compared to the rest of society, based on the reports that were given. [continues 541 words]
AMSTERDAM -- Paul Wilhelm speaks about marijuana the way a vintner might discuss wine. He talks of aroma, taste and texture, of flowering periods, of the pros and cons of hydroponic cultivation. Wilhelm's connoisseurship might earn him a long prison sentence in the United States, but here in the Netherlands, he's just another taxpaying businessman. He owns a long-established pot emporium -- the Dutch call them "coffee shops" -- where customers can sidle up to the bar, peruse a detailed menu, and choose from 22 variations of fragrant marijuana and 18 types of potent hash. [continues 632 words]
Marijuana Can Be Sold and Smoked in the Netherlands, but Not Grown or Shipped. Wider Legalization Is Debated. AMSTERDAM - Paul Wilhelm speaks about marijuana the way a vintner might discuss wine. He talks of aroma, taste and texture, of flowering periods, of the pros and cons of hydroponic cultivation. Wilhelm's connoisseurship might earn him a long prison sentence in the United States, but here in the Netherlands, he's just another taxpaying businessman. He owns a long-established pot emporium - the Dutch call them "coffee shops" - where customers can sidle up to the bar, peruse a detailed menu, and choose from 22 variations of fragrant marijuana and 18 types of potent hash. [continues 1300 words]
MAASTRICHT - Aboard the Mississippi Boat, moored off the banks of the River Maas, the management has suddenly gone publicity shy. "No interviews in here", says a burly, long-haired man propping up the bar, "We don't have anything to do with journalists." One of Holland's most popular, cannabis selling coffee shops, the Mississippi Boat, serves several hundred thousand people each year, making its stream of customers the envy of many a Dutch retailer. But Holland's famously liberal drug policy is about to confront its biggest challenge in decades. The council in Maastricht plans to make it technically illegal to serve foreigners in the city's 16 coffee shops, a move that could drive many of them out of business. [continues 1615 words]
One Town in the Netherlands Has Become a Magnet for Smokers From Around Europe. but Now the Council Has Had Enough. Stephen Castle Reports on a Crackdown That Could Herald the End of Dutch Liberalism Aboard the Mississippi Boat, moored off the banks of the Maas river, the management has suddenly come over publicity-shy. "No interviews in here," says a burly, long-haired man propping up the bar, "we don't have anything to do with journalists." One of Holland's most popular, cannabis-selling coffee shops, the Mississippi Boat serves several hundred thousand people each year making its stream of customers the envy of many a Dutch retailer. [continues 3647 words]
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - A broad coalition of political parties announced a plan Friday to regulate marijuana farming on the model of tobacco, in what may be the most significant development in Dutch drug policy in years. Opponents in the government said the move would be tantamount to legalization. But the proponents, representing a large majority in parliament, have threatened a showdown if the government tries to block the proposal. Prime Minister Jan-Peter Balkenende and his Christian Democrat party oppose allowing cannabis cultivation because it would set the Netherlands another step apart from the rest of Europe. [continues 349 words]
A broad coalition of political parties announced a plan Friday to regulate marijuana farming on the model of tobacco, in what may be the most significant development in Dutch drug policy in years. Opponents in the government said the move would be tantamount to legalization. But the proponents, representing a large majority in parliament, have threatened a showdown if the government tries to block the proposal. Prime Minister Jan-Peter Balkenende and his Christian Democrat party oppose allowing cannabis cultivation because it would set the Netherlands another step apart from the rest of Europe. [continues 65 words]
Government May Not Be Able To Halt Popular Plan AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - A broad coalition of political parties announced a plan Friday to regulate marijuana farming on the model of tobacco, in what may be the most significant development in Dutch drug policy in years. Opponents in the government said the move would be tantamount to legalization. But the proponents, representing a large majority in parliament, have threatened a showdown if the government tries to block the proposal. Prime Minister Jan-Peter Balkenende and his Christian Democrat party oppose allowing cannabis cultivation because it would set the Netherlands another step apart from the rest of Europe. [continues 562 words]
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands -- A broad coalition of political parties unveiled a pilot program Friday to regulate marijuana farming on the model of tobacco. Opponents say that's essentially legalizing growing the drug. Under the test program, to be conducted in the southern city of Maastricht, growers would no longer be the target of police raids or prosecution. Coffee shops permitted to sell marijuana would be required to provide consumers with information about the health hazards of smoking -- similar to tobacco warnings -- and the chemical content of the marijuana. The shops would also have to say where they bought the marijuana they sell. [continues 69 words]
Inside Netherlands
