Dutch say no to tobacco, yes to cannabis
The Netherlands has long been known as one of the most tolerant countries in the world. But as of July 1, that famous live-and-let-live attitude will no longer extend to tobacco. That's the day a ban on smoking in public places of employment takes effect in the Netherlands. Well, not all smoking.
Yes, while smoking tobacco in public is soon to be verboten, smoking a joint (that's a "marijuana cigarette" for you squares) will remain legal in the Netherlands. But, as this article notes, Dutch potheads don't feel too lucky that their drug of choice is still legal. That's because many of them cut their joints with tobacco.
The Dutch government is not prohibiting marijuana smokers from rolling "pure" joints, and it's likely that many smokers who had previously mixed marijuana and tobacco will switch to smoking "pure." Interestingly, there's not yet a way for government inspectors to determine whether a joint is "pure" or cut with tobacco (other than testing it themselves, I suppose.)
Smoking tobacco will still be permitted inside the famous Dutch coffee shops, but only in separate rooms without employees, which many shop owners say they can't afford to provide.
Local pot smokers, who usually cut joints with tobacco, and owners of the “coffee shops” where they are allowed to light up will have to change their habits when the nation implements the indoor tobacco ban. Puffing a pure marijuana cigarette in public will still be permitted; smoking one with tobacco will merit coffee shop owners a 300-euro ($466) fine for the first offense and 2,400 euros for a fourth.
“Every customer will have to learn how to smoke pure,” said Robert Kempen, co-owner of The NooN and Mellow Yellow in Amsterdam, which sell marijuana and hashish. The rule makes him “sick to death,” he said, rolling himself a joint.
Coffee-shop proprietors say the ban will put some of them out of business as smokers stay away. The nation’s 720 outlets that serve marijuana smokers generate a large portion of their revenue from selling drinks, food and rolling papers to their patrons. Dutch sales of cannabis alone totaled 1.2 billion euros ($1.86 billion) in 2001, according to the most recent figures available from the nation’s statistics bureau.
To permit tobacco smoking, shops will have to build separate, unstaffed rooms, and many say they don’t have the space or money to do so. Others are investing in water pipes and $400 vaporizers, initially intended to aid people with lung problems inhale medicine, to help smokers light up without tobacco.
The Dutch ban, which prohibits tobacco smoking in all public places of employment to protect workers’ health, is only for tobacco and makes no change to marijuana policy, said Saskia Hommes, a spokeswoman for Dutch Health MinisterAb Klink. The government will have to see if the law is enforceable, she said.
To enforce the new policy, the government has more than doubled its number of food and consumer product inspectors to 200, said Bob Kiel, a spokesman for the Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority. The agents will make unannounced visits to bars, restaurants and cafes, as well as coffee shops. There are no guidelines to help inspectors distinguish between a mixed joint and a pure one, he said.
Coffee shops sell everything from pre-rolled joints for 3.50 euros each to hashish for as much as 18 euros a gram, said Mark Jacobsen, chairman of the Amsterdam Association of Cannabis Retailers. The ban will make it even harder for the shops to stay in business as visitors and revenue will drop, said Jacobsen, who is building a wall to divide The Rookies, a shop he co-owns.
We should have this problem here in the States. Especially Florida! Most people I know smoke "pure" anyway. What's this cutting with tobacco crap? That's okay though, Amsterdam is still on my list of "go to places".
"Roll me some pure",
4 comments:
whatever comes from the earth naturally is of the creator. all the most weeds are natural an medicinaltootsand flowers.grass an tobacco are not.they need man to get going an stay maintained.
all the weeds are natural an medicinal roots an flowers.my bad, long rough day but i knew it was coming
What angers me the most is that the Government has decided that I'm too STUPID to know right from wrong, OR IF I DO KNOW, I'm not smart enough to make the right decision. Whats the right decision, you ask? Whatever the Government SAYS is the right decision. Their right is YOUR right and THEIR WRONG is probably what the rest of us would, left to our own devices, elect to do. OTHERWISE, they wouldn't have to PASS A LAW STOPPING YOU FROM DOING IT. The government continues to try to legislate morality, and everytime they do, it is a failure. If a person wants to get high, he WILL GET HIGH, if that same person wants to buy sex, he WILL BUY SEX. Its human nature to obtain that which brings him pleasure and no law or Government WILL STOP HIM. SO QUIT WASTING OUR TAX DOLLARS TRYING.
I started a petition to legalize pot, but I forgot where I left it.
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