Maastricht, Netherlands (AP) - A young man at a bus stop hisses at a passer-by: "What you looking for ... marijuana?" It's a scene of street peddling that the Netherlands hoped to stamp out in the 1970s when it launched a policy of tolerating "coffee shops" where people could buy and smoke pot freely. But Maastricht's street dealers are back, local residents complain. And the reason is a crackdown on coffee-shops triggered by another problem: Pot tourists who crossed the border to visit the cafes and made a nuisance of themselves by snarling traffic, dumping litter and even urinating in the streets. [continues 477 words]
MAASTRICHT, NETHERLANDS (AP) - A young man at a bus stop hisses at a passerby: "What you looking for ... marijuana?" It's a scene of street peddling that the Netherlands hoped to stamp out in the 1970s when it launched a policy of tolerating "coffee shops" where people could buy and smoke pot freely. But Maastricht's street dealers are back, local residents complain. And the reason is a crackdown on coffeeshops triggered by another problem: Pot tourists who crossed the border to visit the cafes and made a nuisance of themselves by snarling traffic, dumping litter and even urinating in the streets. [continues 1127 words]
Independent Review SYDNEY (CP) -- A church-run heroin injecting centre in Sydney's red-light district has saved lives and taken addicts off the streets, said an independent report published Wednesday. But Australia's prime minister scathingly condemned the project. At the centre, run by a branch of the Protestant Uniting Church, drug addicts inject themselves under the supervision of medical staff trained and equipped to treat overdoses and provide counselling. The addicts bring their own heroin, but the centre's services are free of charge. [continues 337 words]
By Mike Corder, Associated Press writer AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) A whiff of Skunk? Some dazzling Northern Lights? How about a Great White Shark bite? Different tokes for different folks were competing Thursday for the attention of the high rollers judging the 10th annual Cannabis Cup. About 2,000 marijuana lovers, many of them from the United States, are in the drugtolerant Dutch capital for their yearly blowout, a fiveday ``harvest festival'' organized by the U.S.based High Times magazine. Before the cup presentation, judges puffed their way through bags full of homegrown weed as paying guests took a special bus tour of Amsterdam's famous marijuanaselling ``coffeeshops.'' [continues 369 words]
