Within the first few days of being here we'd already walked by several smart shops and coffeeshops between our house and the town center. Before venturing into any of them, though, I did my usual background research with the help of my good friend Google, which led me to the incredibly informative and helpful Amsterdam Coffeeshop Directory, a UK-based site ardently dedicated to "unashamed cannabis tourism." Despite its name, the directory lists over 1000 shops throughout the Netherlands, not just in Amsterdam. By my (very conservative) calculations, that's more than enough retail outlets to provide every man, woman, and child in the country with at least one gram of cannibis, hash, or psychedelic mushrooms per month, and with a different bong, hookah, pipe, and rolling papers for each day of the week.
The online directory distinguishes among coffeeshops, smartshops, head shops, and grow shops, denoting each with its own symbol:
= coffee shop (cannabis, hashish, marijuana)
= smart shop (mushrooms and smart drugs)
= grow shop (cannabis seeds)
= head shop (pipes and paraphernalia)Naturally, I checked the directory for Breda (population 172,219, fyi) , where I found 20 shops listed, with an indication that 5 of them had gone out of business. Clicking on the link for the Feelgood Smartshop (close to my heart because it's close to my residence), I found the below map thoughtfully provided by the owner, who states: "We sell mushrooms and pipes but not cannabis so I get a lot of French tourists asking me where they can find a coffeeshop. To answer their question, I created this map of the coffeeshops in central Breda, which I give away free in my shop. "
Funny, the only thing French tourists ever ask me the location of is the McDonald's! (which, by the way, is conveniently located across the street from the Fly 'N Hy coffeeshop).
On this map, we live about an inch above the first "e" in this sentence. Every shop on the map is within easy walking distance. The Coffeeshop Mediteranne, which is not actually on the map (note arrow) is not within walking distance, but that turns out to be irrelevant, since it is also no longer in business. Oh, and Coffeeshop Pax (boot)? It isn't a boot, it isn't in a boot, and it does not have a "no boots, no service" policy. It is a coffeeshop on a boat in the canal, colloquially referred to as a "weed boat," and, according to this weekend's paper, has just been closed down for three months. Seems the owner was caught with just a wee bit (on the order of 25 kilos) more than the 500 gram limit in the hash and hemp department.
Officially, sale and possession of "soft drugs" such as marijuana, hash, hemp products, and psilocybin is not legal, and here's where I get really confused. It isn't legal; nevertheless it is regulated. (??). So these shops can stay in business as long as they don't get caught selling hard drugs, sell no more than 5 grams of of drug to a customer at a time, and do not stock more than 500 grams at a time. If things get slow in the law enforcement business and the authorities get a sudden urge to do a little enforcing, they just swoop in to make sure these regulations are being adhered to.
Conclusion: I might not be able to legally obtain an effective decongestant in this country, even with a prescription, but I can just mosey on over to the nearest coffeeshop and get up to 5 grams of my choice of "soft" psychotropic, no questions asked, no prescription required. And don't think I'm not tempted! Maybe hash won't clear up my stuffy nasal passages, but heck, after a puff or two I probably just won't care.
Next in the series: Smartshops - what's up with that?
p.s.
I think the coffeeshop directory people should be commended for their responsible stance with regard to addictive substances; witness their disclaimer: "The word 'coffee' in the title of the Amsterdam Coffeeshop Directory should not be taken as condoning the use of addictive drugs. Drinks containing caffeine should be used with care and moderation. Alternatively, stay on the grass!"
No comments:
Post a Comment