The Dutch Government Said Friday It Would Move to Classify High-Potency Marijuana Alongside Hard Drugs Such As Cocaine and Ecstasy, the Latest Step in the Country's Ongoing Reversal of Its Famed Tolerance Policies. The decision means most of the cannabis now sold in the Netherlands' weed cafes would have to be replaced by milder variants. But skeptics said the move would be difficult to enforce, and that it could simply lead many users to smoke more of the less potent weed. [continues 569 words]
Decision Follows Teen's Fatal Leap AMSTERDAM, Netherlands -- The Netherlands will ban the sale of hallucinogenic mushrooms, the government announced Friday, rolling back an element of the country's permissive drug policy after a teenager on a school visit jumped to her death in an incident blamed on the fungus. The decision will take effect within several months, said Wim van der Weegen, a Justice Ministry spokesman. "The problem with mushrooms is that their effect is unpredictable," he said, and shops caught selling them will be closed. [continues 242 words]
AMSTERDAM -- The Netherlands will ban the sale of hallucinogenic mushrooms, the government announced Friday, tightening the country's famed liberal drug policies after the suicide of an intoxicated teenager. Mushrooms "will be outlawed the same way as other drugs," Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin said. "The way we will enforce the ban is through targeting sellers." Psilocybin, the main active chemical in the mushrooms, has been illegal under international law since 1971. But fresh, unprocessed mushrooms continued to be sold legally in the Netherlands along with herbal medicines in "smartshops," on the theory that it was impossible to determine how much psilocybin any given mushroom contains. [continues 340 words]
The Dutch government will ban the sale of hallucinogenic mushrooms, the justice ministry said yesterday, rolling back part of the country's permissive drug policy after a number of incidents, including the death of a teenager who had eaten them. The ban will go into effect within months and does not need parliamentary approval, Wim van der Weegen, a ministry spokesman, said. Shops that continued to sell magic mushrooms would be closed. Under the country's tolerance policy cannabis is technically illegal but police do not prosecute people for possession of small amounts, and it is sold openly in designated cafes. Possession of hard drugs such as cocaine, LSD and ecstasy is illegal. Mushrooms will fall somewhere in the middle. "We're not talking about a non-prosecution policy, but we'll be targeting sellers," Mr Van der Weegen said. [continues 334 words]
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands -- The famously liberal Netherlands has been swinging toward the right, cracking down on immigration, religious freedoms and the freewheeling red light district. The next possible target? Magic mushrooms. The death of a 17-year-old French girl, who jumped from a building after eating psychedelic mushrooms while on a school visit, has ignited a campaign to ban the fungi -- sold legally at smartshops as long as they're fresh. Regulation of mushrooms is even less stringent than Holland's famously loose laws on marijuana, which is illegal but tolerated in "coffee shops" that are a major tourist attraction. [continues 691 words]
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - A field reporter for a new Dutch television talk show plans to use heroin and other illegal drugs on the air during the weekly program on issues that concern young people, producers said Wednesday. The announcement of "Shoot Up and Swallow," scheduled to premiere Oct. 10, sparked an outcry. Even in the liberal Netherlands, where marijuana is sold and used openly, the proposed drug use by reporter Filemon Wesselink is illegal. "This is dangerous and it sets a bad example," said Pieter Heerma, spokesman for the governing center-right Christian Democrat party. "We're going to ask the justice minister for his view on what the law says about this, and his view on the dangers and risks involved." [continues 344 words]
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - Just what the doctor ordered? Pharmacies may fill prescriptions for marijuana and patients can get the cost covered by insurance, according to a law that went into effect Monday. Doctors in the famously liberal Netherlands have long recommended marijuana to cancer patients as an appetite enhancer and to combat pain and nausea. But it is usually bought at one of the country's 800 "coffee shops," where the plant is sold openly while police look the other way. "The health minister said, look, doctors are prescribing marijuana to their patients anyway, and there are many medicinal users, so we may as well regulate it," said Bas Kuik, a spokesman for the Dutch Ministry of Health. [continues 268 words]
