The Netherlands

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Dutch Conservatives Crack Down on Coffee Shops

By Dara Colwell, AlterNet
Posted on October 12, 2006, Printed on October 12, 2006
http://www.alternet.org/story/42891/

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.

But things aren't always what they seem. In recent years the Netherlands, like many countries around the world, has witnessed a rise in conservative power and with that, a corresponding tightening of its once-famous looseness. The legendary Dutch credo "anything goes" is increasingly becoming a thing of the past, and nowhere is this more apparent than in its coffee shops.

The signs began to appear back in 2004, when the Dutch government consented to ban smoking in public -- a measure fiercely resisted by coffee shops fearing they'd take the biggest hit. The government quickly U-turned, bowing to pressure from the hotel and catering industry, and lifted the ban "indefinitely," giving the industry time to exhale. Marijuana retailers, always considered a separate sector, were quickly made exempt, and within days it was back to lighting up as usual.

While the uproar settled and coffee shops seemingly avoided extinction, their existence continues to be silently and systematically stubbed out. Those who flock to the Netherlands seeking its unique tourist niche may not know it, but new coffee shop licenses are rarely issued, and strict regulations have further curbed existing numbers. Closed shops go unreplaced, and the overall number continues to dwindle, dropping from 1,500 nationwide to roughly 737 today. Amsterdam, once the Wild West of the European drug trade, has 250 shops where it once had 800.

"You have to think three times about everything you do. It's getting worse every year," says Ferry Hansen, owner of Get A Life coffee shop in Amsterdam. Hansen, who has been in the business for 14 years, has seen government policies tighten as once vague laws, set in place for years, have become rigorously enforced. "The government is trying to control more and more. If you follow the law, they can't say anything, but in the long run, they'll probably get what they want."

Much of the push towards more stringent control can be attributed to the Christian Democrats (CDA), the most powerful party in the Dutch coalition government, which went on the offensive as soon as it won elections in 2002. Headed by Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, a devout Christian who blamed growing juvenile drug use on the cannabis industry -- even though the minimum legal age to enter a coffee shop is 18 -- the CDA immediately promoted a "zero option" on tolerance. "This is not a battle we're going to win overnight," Marcel Maer, a CDA spokesman told Britain's Sunday Times just days after the election. "But we will chip away at the coffee shops, greatly reducing their number over the next two years until hopefully we can get rid of them altogether."

Many of the regulations the government now enforces were actually established in 1996 in an effort to standardize the industry, which had developed from being reasonably discreet in the late 1970s to unrestrained in the late 1980s. It was then, at the height of ecstasy consumption, that a number of coffee shops peddled both hard and soft drugs, bucking the division of markets they purported to support. Bowing to international pressure, the Netherlands began restricting coffee shop numbers, working in tandem with the Bond van Cannabis Detaillisten, a union of organized coffee shop owners who agreed -- much to their commercial advantage -- that their numbers should be halved and remaining licenses be made nontransferable.

But it wasn't until the CDA tried to reign in coffee shops that these laws were heavily enforced. They include making it illegal to label lighters, rolling papers or display cannabis leaves -- all considered active advertising, limiting businesses to 500 grams of inventory, capping customer purchases to 5 grams per day, and banning businesses within 500 meters of a school. So if a new school pops up, the coffee shop can be closed without warning.

Additionally, in 2003 the BIBOB (an Act for the Promotion of Integrity Evaluations by Public Government) laws were introduced, targeting the entire service industry (including prostitutes) to prevent organized crime from getting involved. A special task force was created to enforce the laws by making random raids on coffee shops, "usually busting in like a bunch of cowboys," notes Hansen, to search staff and customers, and verify all of the required paperwork -- license, fire inspection records, chamber of commerce registration, rental contract, photocopied staff identification, and more. "If one side of this ID isn't photocopied, that's a fine and you're closed for a week," says Hansen, fingering an ID while flipping through a white folder as thick a telephone directory. "Make a second mistake, you're closed for two weeks. Make a third mistake, and you're closed permanently."

But while some owners balk at the government muscling in, others like Henry Dekker, owner of Republiek, Siberie and de Supermarkt coffee shops in Amsterdam, thinks regulations have formalized the market positively. "The government wants to clean it up so only the best businesses stay. This is a competitive market -- so if you're not good, no business," he says, rolling a hash joint as he speaks.

Dekker has been in the business for 20 years and believes owners influence policy more than politicians: By earning a record of professional behavior, they actually increase their bargaining rights. In Dekker's case, this has panned out. He's opening a new coffee shop in neighboring Mijdrecht, a conservative community that advertised for one to help settle their problems with drug trafficking on the street. "We're normalizing the trade, selling herbs just like we did in the Golden Age," says Dekker. "We're a normal business with a quality product, and we've been acknowledged for doing our job and doing it well."

But job appreciation is not something doled out equally. "I'm more negative," says another coffee shop owner, who wishes to remain anonymous and whose business has been in the family since the early 1980s. "It's a lot more aggressive. For a few weeks after a raid, we're left shocked and intimidated. We're just doing our job, but everything is sealed off, we're treated like criminals and told to put our arms up. We follow the rules, there's no reason to come in this way," the owner says. "At times I feel like quitting, so I won't have to be a part of this ridiculousness. Whether you're a smoker or not, this is a relaxing place and 60 percent of what we sell isn't weed -- it's bread or sandwiches. We shouldn't be treated this way."

No matter how responsible they are, coffee shop owners are marginalized because their industry has never gained full legal status. While liberal Dutch drug policy makes a distinction between marijuana and hard drugs (like heroin and cocaine), all drugs are considered illegal -- even though, paradoxically, using them is not. As a result, inconsistent law forbids owners from bringing marijuana through the back door -- they could be arrested buying their inventory, even though they are allowed to sell it through the front door.

"If you get into trouble, the bottom line is it's a prohibited, unregulated product associated with the drug industry," says Kristie Szalanski, a staff member at Amsterdam's Cannabis College, a nonprofit foundation devoted to educating the public on weed. She notes that pubs where alcohol is sold are never raided. "This means that technically, coffee shop owners are criminals." An oversight the government makes, of course, when collecting taxes.

Due to this paradox, over the last few years the CDA itself has taken a confusing position on weed legislation. In 2003, the government legalized medical marijuana sold at pharmacies, yet backtracked two years later when the system fell into financial chaos -- mostly because patients preferred buying their stash at coffee shops. Then in 2004, Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner urged the government to ban local marijuana, claiming THC levels were too potent. Donner further suggested banning coffee shops from serving foreigners -- a move tantamount to saying only Brits can enter British pubs -- which quickly provoked international outrage. The politician continued taking a hard line on soft drugs, attempting to bring Dutch drug policy in line with the European Union, until he resigned a few weeks ago due to a damning report that pointed to his responsibility in the deaths of 11 refugees in a fire while being detained at Schiphol Airport.

While Donner may no longer be on the scene, the Dutch government's desire to subdue coffee shops has much to do with appeasing folks like Jacques Chirac, whose country, according to a survey by the French Observatory of Drugs and Drug Use, boasts the largest number of teenage cannabis consumers in Europe. Sweden, too, has taken the hard line, and of course there's America, which seeks to impose prohibition on the rest of the world through its war on drugs. But maybe it should start at home. According to the 2001 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, 36.9 percent of Americans have tried cannabis versus 17 percent in the Netherlands.

For the foreseeable future, coffee shops will continue to exist, but are likely to keep diminishing in number. "The way Dutch policy works, it would take at least 60 years or more before they disappeared," jokes Dekker. Most owners would agree it's a slow-moving boat that would face an arduous fight with popular sentiment. "In Holland, the population knows the system's working," he says. Still, for now, the CDA, which chose not to respond to this reporter's questions, keeps pushing for lower numbers. "With every election it's an issue. You don't know how politicians are going to react," cautions Hansen. With upcoming Dutch elections in November, the next majority party, however conservative, might choose to take a softer line. Or things could change overnight -- much as they did in the United States when the Patriot Act was passed curtailing free speech, a right that had been fought for and claimed for over two centuries.

"I don't know how long [my shop] will exist," says Hansen. "I could be in business for five years or 25 years. But I really don't know for sure."

Dara Colwell is a freelance writer based in Brooklyn.

© 2006 Independent Media Institute. All rights reserved.
View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/42891/

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Court asked to squash medical cannabis ruling

Independent Online
October 18, 2006


The Hague - Dutch prosecutors said Wednesday they had asked the country's highest court to squash an appeals court decision allowing a man suffering from multiple sclerosis to grow his own cannabis.

"We introduced an appeals motion on Tuesday before the Supreme Court," said Marina Weel, spokesperson for the prosecutor's office in Leeuwaarden.

The government argues that the appeals court decision authorising Wim Moorlag, 51, to grow enough marijuana to alleviate the pain caused by his condition would set a dangerous precedent, leading to abuses of The Netherlands' otherwise tolerant drug laws.

It is legal in the Netherlands to sell and consume small amounts of cannabis and hashish in licensed cafes, but growing and trafficking the drugs are banned.

An appeals court ruling on Tuesday was the first exception ever made on the ban against cultivating cannabis, even for personal medical use.

Moorlag and his wife Klasiena Hooijer, also a defendant in the case, grew just enough cannabis to meet Moorlag's daily use of three grams, namely some 300 grams per harvest every 15 weeks.

Officially the possession and sale of cannabis is illegal in the Netherlands but it is tolerated under certain conditions.

Cannabis cafes, known here as coffee shops, are the only venues authorised to sell no more than five grams a day to people 18 years and older. People can have up to 30 grams of cannabis in their possession for personal use without being prosecuted.

Moorland argued he could not buy cannabis from coffee shops because it could contain harmful fungi and bacteria. This could be especially dangerous for MS patients as they are already weakened by their disease, his lawyers said.

In 2004 Moorlag and his wife were convicted with a fine of €250 (about R2 373) by a lower court.

On appeal this conviction was quashed because the court ruled that the personal interests of Moorlag to alleviate pain connected with his disease overrides the public interest in banning the cultivation of cannabis.

"This means that other patients can also legally grow their own cannabis, not just MS patients but also people with Aids," Moorlag's lawyer Wim Anker told the Dutch ANP news agency after Tuesday's ruling. - Sapa-AFP



Published on the Web by IOL on 2006-10-18 14:13:58



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© Independent Online 2005. All rights reserved. IOL publishes this article in good faith but is not liable for any loss or damage caused by reliance on the information it contains.

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<span class=postbold>Drug War Chronicle - world’s leading drug policy newsletter</span>

Europe: Dutch Appeals Court Rules Medical Marijuana Patient Can Grow His Own

from Drug War Chronicle, Issue #458, 10/20/06

Up until now, it has been illegal to grow marijuana in the Netherlands, but a case decided Tuesday has opened a crack in the dike for patients. Although Holland's famous coffee shops provide retail cannabis sales with the acquiescence of the Dutch state, the country has never made any provision to bring the growers who supply the shops out of the black market. Similarly, although Holland allows for medical marijuana to be purchased at pharmacies, it did not allow patients to grow their own.

Until Tuesday, when, according to Agence France Presse, an appeals court in Leeuwarden in the northern Netherlands ruled that multiple sclerosis patient Wim Moorlag and his wife should not have been prosecuted for growing a crop that would provide him with 20 grams of marijuana a week. Although a lower court had found the Moorlags guilty of illegal cultivation (and fined them $314), the appeals court held that Moorlag's right to try to alleviate pain connected with his disease overrode the state's interest in banning marijuana cultivation.

Moorlag had argued that he could not buy marijuana from coffee shops because it could contain fungi and bacteria especially dangerous for MS sufferers.

Moorlag's attorney, Wim Anker, told the Dutch ANP news agency the decision would have broad ramifications. "This means that other patients can also legally grow their own cannabis, not just MS patients but also people with AIDS," he said.

Dutch prosecutors, however, are not yet throwing in the towel. On Wednesday, they announced they had asked the Dutch Supreme Court to overturn the appeals court decision. "We introduced an appeals motion on Tuesday before the Supreme Court," said Marina Weel, spokesperson for the prosecutor's office in Leeuwaarden.

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Wednesday, November 29 2006 @ 01:49 AM EST

The Netherlands: The governments of Canada, Germany and Italy are interested in medical cannabis from the Netherlands

IACM via BBSNews 2006-11-29 -- According to a letter by Mr. H. Hoogervorst, the Minister for Health, Welfare and Sport of the Netherlands, to the Dutch Parliament of 31 October the Canadian, the German and the Italian governments are interested in medical cannabis produced under supervision of the Health Ministry and sold in pharmacies of the country for distribution to patients in their countries.

In his two-page letter Mr. Hoogervorst described the current situation of the medicinal cannabis project and noted that it will continue for at least one more year. Under certain circumstances, it may continue for another four years. This decision was based on a plan on the development of medicines by a consortium of Dutch companies and on an application for registration by GW Pharmaceuticals for Sativex. It is also important that in the future the costs of the project do no longer exceed the revenues as is currently the case.

So far, less patients than expected buy cannabis from the pharmacies. Additional revenues came from national and foreign companies who bought the plant material for isolation of THC and development of pharmaceutical products. In addition, the Canadian, German and Italian governments expressed their interest in buying Dutch medical cannabis for their patients. Higher revenues from patients and governments or companies would also allow to reduce the price of the pharmacy cannabis for Dutch patients, the minister stated in his letter.

Sources: Letter of H. Hoogervorst to the president of the second chamber of the Dutch Parliament of 31 October 2006, Newsletter of the Office of Medicinal Cannabis of 24 November 2006.

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Dutch health minister extends medical marijuana program for five years

The International Herald-Tribune
November 7th, 2007


The Dutch Health Ministry announced plans Wednesday to extend its experimental medical marijuana program for five years, despite setbacks.

Under the program, launched in 2003, standardized marijuana is grown by government-licensed growers under controlled conditions and sold by prescription in pharmacies.

But few patients, even armed with a doctor's prescription, bought the regulated weed since they could buy it at a third of the price in "coffee shops," where it remains illegal but tolerated if sold in small amounts.

The medical marijuana plan was meant to allow the growers licensed by the ministry's Bureau for Medical Cannabis to build a customer base and eventually take over production from illegal growers. It also would give companies a chance to develop and register cannabis-based prescription drugs.

Health Minister Ab Klink said in a letter to parliament Wednesday that one Dutch company, Echo Pharmaceuticals BV, had made progress gaining approval for its drug, and he wanted to give it more time to succeed.

"This development track will take years, but it can yield scientific evidence and give insight into the balance between safety and effectiveness of medical cannabis," he wrote.

"By making medical marijuana available as a raw material for five years, I want to give this track a serious chance."

The Bureau for Medical Cannabis would operate at a loss of around €200,000 (US$290,000) this year because of unsold surpluses, Health Ministry spokeswoman Karin Donk said.

Echo spokesman Geert Woerlee said his company would be starting trials next year of its pill, which contains one of the main active chemicals in marijuana, THC, in purified form.

Klink said he hoped the drug under development by Echo would eventually replace marijuana in pharmacies.

The ministry said British company GW Pharmaceuticals PLC, which sells a marijuana-based oral medicine in Canada, has withdrawn from the Dutch approval process.

The centrist government agreed as part of its coalition pact not to change country's famed tolerance policy on unregulated marijuana, which is rife with contradictions.

Advocates say full legalization would lead to better labeling of the plant's chemical contents.

And while coffee shops openly sell marijuana and hash, they have no way to legally source their products. Many are supplied by mini-plantations hidden in residential areas, causing a fire hazard. Police are called in to dismantle them on a daily basis.

Amsterdam benefits from tourists who come to smoke marijuana, but the city's emergency services are taxed by smokers who experience panic attacks after trying unexpectedly strong weed.

Border towns suffer problems from "drug tourists" who travel from neighboring Germany and Belgium and nearby France to stock up on weed.

Under the previous conservative government, parliament was dissuaded from outright legalization by fears that it would lead to a confrontation with the European Union.

According to data compiled by the Netherlands' Trimbos Institute for Mental Health and Addiction, after 30 years of the Dutch tolerance policy, usage rates here are somewhere in the middle of international norms — above those in Germany and the Scandinavian countries, but below those of France, Britain and the United States.

Reviewing recent scientific studies, the institute warns users "there are indications that there is a relationship between cannabis use and the development of psychological problems such as schizophrenia and depression."

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Dutch want cannabis registered as regular medicine

by Emma Thomasson, Reuters UK
November 7th, 2007


The Dutch government said on Wednesday it wants to promote the development of cannabis-based medicine and will extend the drug's availability in pharmacies by five years to allow more scientific research.

In 2003, the Netherlands became the world's first country to make cannabis available as a prescription drug in pharmacies to treat chronic pain, nausea and loss of appetite in cancer, HIV and multiple sclerosis (MS) patients.

"Medicinal cannabis must become a regular registered medicine," Health Minister Ab Klink said in a statement, adding he wanted to give the development of a cannabis-based medicine by a Dutch company a serious chance.

The Netherlands, where prostitution and the sale of cannabis for recreational use in coffee shops are regulated by the government, has a history of pioneering social reforms. It was also the first country to legalize euthanasia.

The Dutch government regulates the growing of special strains of cannabis in laboratory-style conditions to supply pharmacies, but also hopes for progress on a cannabis-based drug by Dutch firm Echo Pharmaceuticals, the Health Ministry said.

"The development path, that could take several years, can deliver scientific details and insight into the balance between the efficacy and safety of medicinal cannabis," it said.

A ministry spokesman said several thousand patients were prescribed cannabis in the Netherlands and up to 15,000 people used it for medicinal purposes, although many bought their supply at coffee shops rather than pharmacies.

Echo Pharmaceuticals said in September it was launching a tablet containing the active ingredient in cannabis that doctors can prescribe.

In 2005, Canada became the first country in the world to approve a cannabis-based medicine produced by Britain's GW Pharmaceuticals Plc as a treatment for MS patients.

U.S. regulators granted approval last year for a clinical trial for GW's under-the-tongue spray called Sativex, but the company announced in July that European regulators had requested a further clinical study before approval.

Cannabis has a long history of medicinal use. It was used as a Chinese herbal remedy around 5,000 years ago, while Britain's Queen Victoria is said to have taken cannabis tincture for menstrual pains.

But it fell out of favor because of a lack of standardized preparations and the development of more potent synthetic drugs.

Critics argue that it has not undergone sufficient scientific scrutiny and some doctors say it increases the risk of depression and schizophrenia.