Marijuana & Cannabis Blog

Iolite Vaporizer

2009-07-07T03:22:37-07:00

We have always been in favor of using a vaporizer to “smoke” cannabis. It is a healthy and very efficient way to use cannabis and the certainly the least harmful way to smoke cannabis. (if harmful at all)

The best thing about using a vaporizer is that you can really taste the herb flavour of the weed you are smoking. Of course you can also vaporize all kinds of herbs, but let’s face it.. Who spends more then 200 euro and uses it only for aroma theraphy?

The lastest addition is the I-olite vaporizer, formaly known as the I-inhaler. We are happy that they renamed this handy pocket sized vaporizerto the famous Viking Gemstone as it truly is a little gem.

The I-olite works very well for such a small vaporizer. The temperate might not reach the same level as, lets say, a vulcano vaporizer but the fact that it is easily concealed and fits inside your hand definitely compensates for this minor downside. The lower temperature might make the I-olite a little less efficient but try fitting a Vulcano vaporizer in your back pocket.

The normal retail price is about €179 ($249) but it can be order at the Sensi Seeds website for € 140.

SensiSeeds.com € 140
Vaporstore.com €179
Gotvape.com €179

Click here to buy the Iolite Vaporizer

Posted in Cannabis Products

Dr. Bob Melamede – Biology of Democracy

2009-06-26T05:59:32-07:00

Dr. Robert Melamede aka Dr. Bob is a professor specializing in cancer treatment working at the university of Colorado.

In the video below Dr. Bob explains about Endocannabinoids and the difference between BLP’s (Backward Looking People)and FLP’s (Forward Looking People).

His theory on Endocannabinoids and how they influence everything is interesting. Have a look for yourself as he explains the basics in this video.

He also had some very interesting things to say about Cancer in a response to the Rick Simpson story (Run from the Cure), which we expect many of you have heard about. If you haven’t, we recommend you watch it right now. Click here..

Want to know more? Have a look at Dr. Bob’s youtube channel or his website.

Posted in Cannabis Research, Cannabis Science, medicinal, Quotes & Opinions, Society and Cannabis

Marijuana good for your brain

2009-06-26T04:07:48-07:00

Forget the stereotype about dopey potheads. It seems marijuana could be good for your brain.

While other studies have shown that periodic use of marijuana can cause memory loss and impair learning and a host of other health problems down the road, new research suggests the drug could have some benefits when administered regularly in a highly potent form.

Most “drugs of abuse” such as alcohol, heroin, cocaine and nicotine suppress growth of new brain cells. However, researchers found that cannabinoids promoted generation of new neurons in rats’ hippocampuses.

Hippocampuses are the part of the brain responsible for learning and memory, and the study held true for either plant-derived or the synthetic version of cannabinoids.

“This is quite a surprise,” said Xia Zhang, an associate professor with the Neuropsychiatry Research Unit at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon.

“Chronic use of marijuana may actually improve learning memory when the new neurons in the hippocampus can mature in two or three months,” he added.

The research by Dr. Zhang and a team of international researchers is to be published in the November issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, but their findings are on-line now.

The scientists also noticed that cannabinoids curbed depression and anxiety, which Dr. Zhang says, suggests a correlation between neurogenesis and mood swings. (Or, it at least partly explains the feelings of relaxation and euphoria of a pot-induced high.)

Other scientists have suggested that depression is triggered when too few new brain cells are created in the hippocampus. One researcher of neuropharmacology said he was “puzzled” by the findings.

As enthusiastic as Dr. Zhang is about the potential health benefits, he warns against running out for a toke in a bid to beef up brain power or calm nerves.

The team injected laboratory rats with a synthetic substance called HU-210, which is similar, but 100 times as potent as THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol), the compound responsible for giving marijuana users a high.

They found that the rats treated regularly with a high dose of HU-210 — twice a day for 10 days — showed growth of neurons in the hippocampus. The researchers don’t know if pot, which isn’t as pure as the lab-produced version, would have the same effect.

“There’s a big gap between rats and humans,” Dr. Zhang points out.

But there is a lot of interest — and controversy — around the use of cannabinoids to improve human health.

Cannabinoids, such as marijuana and hashish, have been used to address pain, nausea, vomiting, seizures caused by epilepsy, ischemic stroke, cerebral trauma, tumours, multiple sclerosis and a host of other maladies.

There are herbal cannabinoids, which come from the cannabis plant, and the bodies of humans and animals produce endogenous cannabinoids. The substance can also be designed in the lab.

Cannabinoids can trigger the body’s two cannabinoid receptors, which control the activity of various cells in the body.

One receptor, known as CB1, is found primarily in the brain. The other receptor, CB2, was thought to be found only in the immune system.

However, in a separate study to be published today in the journal Science, a group of international researchers have located the CB2 receptor in the brain stems of rats, mice and ferrets.

The brain stem is responsible for basic body function such as breathing and the gastrointestinal tract. If stimulated in a certain way, CB2 could be harnessed to eliminate the nausea and vomiting associated with post-operative analgesics or cancer and AIDS treatments, according to the researchers.

“Ultimately, new therapies could be developed as a result of these findings,” said Keith Sharkey, a gastrointestinal neuroscientist at the University of Calgary, lead author of the study.

(Scientists are trying to find ways to block CB1 as a way to decrease food cravings and limit dependence on tobacco.)

When asked whether his findings explain why some swear by pot as a way to avoid the queasy feeling of a hangover, Dr. Sharkey paused and replied: “It does not explain the effects of smoked or inhaled or ingested substances.”

Source: The Globe and Mail

Posted in Cannabis News, Cannabis Research, Cannabis Science, medicinal

Top Anti-Drug Researcher says Legalize Marijuana

2009-06-08T01:02:03-07:00

One of the world’s foremost lung health experts says it’s time to legalize marijuana.

Top Lung expert says Cannabis is not harmful

Dr. Donald Tashkin, expert on marijuana and lung health, has called for the legalization of marijuana.Dr. Donald Tashkin, expert on marijuana and lung health, has called for the legalization of marijuana.For 30 years, Donald Tashkin has studied the effects of marijuana on lung function. His work has been funded by the vehemently anti-marijuana National Institute on Drug Abuse, which has long sought to demonstrate that marijuana causes lung cancer. After 3 decades of anti-drug research, here’s what Tashkin has to say about marijuana laws:

“Early on, when our research appeared as if there would be a negative impact on lung health, I was opposed to legalization because I thought it would lead to increased use and that would lead to increased health effects,” Tashkin says. “But at this point, I’d be in favor of legalization. I wouldn’t encourage anybody to smoke any substances. But I don’t think it should be stigmatized as an illegal substance. Tobacco smoking causes far more harm. And in terms of an intoxicant, alcohol causes far more harm.“

We’ve been told a thousand times that marijuana destroys your lungs, that it’s 5 times worse than cigarettes, and on and on. Yet here is Donald Tashkin, literally the top expert in the world when it comes to marijuana and lung health, telling us it’s time to legalize marijuana. His views are shaped not by ideology, but rather by the 30 years he spent studying the issue. He didn’t expect the science to come out in favor of marijuana, but that’s what happened and he’s willing to admit it.

Here’s the study that really turned things around:

UCLA’s Tashkin studied heavy marijuana smokers to determine whether the use led to increased risk of lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD. He hypothesized that there would be a definitive link between cancer and marijuana smoking, but the results proved otherwise.”What we found instead was no association and even a suggestion of some protective effect,” says Tashkin, whose research was the largest case-control study ever conducted.

Prejudice against marijuana and smoking in general runs so deep for many people that it just seems inconceivable that marijuana could actually reduce the risk of lung cancer. But that’s what the data shows and it not only demolishes a major tenet of popular anti-pot propaganda, but also points towards a potentially groundbreaking opportunity to develop cancer cures through marijuana research.

Source: stopthedrugwar.org

Posted in Cannabis News, Cannabis Research, Cannabis Science, medicinal

Fired officer gets his job back

2009-06-03T00:08:46-07:00

Source: seattlepi.com by: Eric Nalder

A Mountlake Terrace police sergeant who was fired in part for alleged dishonesty has gotten his job back and an $812,500 settlement from his department, Snohomish County and the city of Lynnwood.

Jonathan Wender’s battle to clear his name centered on allegations that police internal investigators and the prosecutor’s office targeted him unfairly because of his outspoken views in favor of limited decriminalization of marijuana and reforms in the nation’s war on drugs.

“I think that those of us on the front lines have an obligation to speak out,” said Wender, 42, who now is on a two-year paid leave and teaching at the University of Washington. “I have devoted most of my professional life to protecting constitutional rights of citizens. Rights are violated when there is a chilling of free speech, which I believe was the case here.”

Wender’s case illustrates a wider issue reported last year by the Seattle P-I — abuse and unequal enforcement by police departments of requirements that police officers be truthful. Internal disciplinary records indicate some officers are fired for dishonesty, some are reprimanded and some are accused of lying so that departments can fire them.

Wender alleged that he falls in the latter category. Court records show he uncovered evidence to support his claim.

Wender joined the department out of college in 1990, and while working full time obtained a Ph.D. in criminology from Simon Fraser University in British Columbia. Though he stated in court he made more drug arrests than other Mountlake Terrace patrol sergeants, Wender came to believe the nation was wasting police resources jailing addicts, while failing to curb drug traffickers and to solve the underlying problems leading to drug use, including unstable families.

He joined a well-known organization — Law Enforcement Against Prohibition — and encouraged exploration of decriminalization of marijuana. He was quoted in a weekly newspaper on his views.

He said some fellow officers, including Lynnwood officers who were part of a drug task force, objected to his views and targeted him. Though he admitted smoking pot once — when he was 15 years old — he said he is not pro-drug.

Police and prosecutors began investigating Wender after a woman called 911 one night in June 2005 to say she saw a single marijuana plant at her ex-husband’s house when she picked up their daughter.

She said she didn’t want to get her ex in trouble, she just wanted to make a record of it because of custody issues, according to court records. Wender called the man and told him to obey the law or risk losing visitation rights. The woman later found a small pot-growing operation inside her ex-husband’s house. Wender was unaware of that, or he said he would have acted differently.

Lynnwood police officers in the drug task force — who were aware of Wender’s views on marijuana — called for a full-scale criminal investigation of Wender as a result of that case.

That went nowhere and the prosecutor declined to pursue charges. Then the Mountlake Terrace department opened an internal investigation. During that investigation, investigators claimed to the Snohomish County Prosecutor’s Office that Wender had made false statements in regards to a side issue. That led the prosecutor to open a “Brady” investigation on Wender, and to issue a “Brady letter,” a move that is often fatal to a police officer’s career.

Brady v. Maryland is a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that requires prosecutors to inform criminal defendants of any evidence that they might use to defend themselves. That includes information whether a police officer who accused them of a crime has ever lied in an official proceeding.

A “Brady letter” is a note in prosecutor’s files about any officer that has lied. “Brady” officers are often terminated because they become ineffective as witnesses in criminal trials. Wender was terminated on Oct. 19, 2005. He filed a lawsuit two years later.

The case investigators made against Wender had serious flaws. He passed a polygraph test, and the evidence that he misled anyone was shaky. And at least one other Mountlake Terrace officer was simply reprimanded in 2000 when the prosecutor’s office created a Brady file on him for statements he made during an investigation of a vehicle ramming. Moreover, Wender had a reputation in the department for honesty.

“I never questioned his honesty,” said Mountlake Terrace Assistant Chief Mark Connor, adding that he was a “good guy to work with.”

Connor still believes Wender violated policy when he let the man off regarding the one pot plant, but that violation wouldn’t have resulted in termination. Connor wasn’t named in the lawsuit.

Snohomish County Deputy Prosecutor Michael Held said his department did not want to continue spending money on the case, and risk losing it. He said prosecutors would be put in an untenable position if they were held liable for obeying the Brady ruling.

Wender won’t get all the money at once. In the settlement, he was reinstated as a sergeant and placed on paid leave, which will continue through Nov. 10, 2010, when he will resign. He got back pay, and about half the settlement money went to reinstating his pension fund.

“He is walking away with his reputation restored,” said his attorney Andrea Brenneke.

Though he is now teaching criminal justice at the university, he said he might go back to law enforcement: “I miss it.”

Posted in Cannabis News

US Government patents Cannabis!?

2009-05-26T02:12:51-07:00

This just shows how much of a fraud the whole prohabition of cannabis is. The US Government’s statement that there is “no current use for medical treatment in the United States” is a lie and they know it. The most disturbing about it is that United States patent No. 6,630,507 has been filled in 2001 already and that you have to hear about it through a weblog.

Why isn’t this big news? Why is there no reporter that asks these kind of questions? If the media doesn’t address these kind of issues, what good are they?

Below the abstract from the patent filed by the US government “as represented by the Department of Health and Human Services”:

“Cannabinoids have been found to have antioxidant properties, unrelated to NMDA receptor antagonism. This new found property makes cannabinoids useful in the treatment and prophylaxis of wide variety of oxidation associated diseases, such as ischemic, age-related, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. The cannabinoids are found to have particular application as neuroprotectants, for example in limiting neurological damage following ischemic insults, such as stroke and trauma, or in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and HIV dementia. Nonpsychoactive cannabinoids, such as cannabidoil, are particularly advantageous to use because they avoid toxicity that is encountered with psychoactive cannabinoids at high doses useful in the method of the present invention. A particular disclosed class of cannabinoids useful as neuroprotective antioxidants is formula (I) wherein the R group is independently selected from the group consisting of H, CH.sub.3, and COCH.sub.3.”

Special thanks to spryeye and evanravitz for bringing this information to our attention.

Posted in Cannabis News, Cannabis Research

Grow cannabis legally anywhere in Europe!

2009-05-18T08:04:39-07:00

Thanks to “HEMPFLAX” (a company founded in 1994 by Ben Dronkers, founder of Sensi Seeds) it is finally possible to grow cannabis 100% legally, whether it is in an effort to reduce your carbon footprint or simply to enjoy the beauty of the plant!

Hempflax recently launched their new website: www.hempflax.com where you can buy 5000 Cannabis Sativa seeds (100 grams) for only 50 Euros!! The seeds come with a certificate identifying them as “USO-31 cannabis seeds” and can be legally (and easily) grown anywhere in Europe.

By buying your “USO-31″ seeds you will also be adopting a100m2 field in Holland which will be used to grow cannabis. To find out more about this, click here. Below is a copy of the certificate you will receive as proof:

My personal hope is that enough people will start to do this in order to demonstrate how ridiculous the law is and render items such as the “CANNACOPTER” (a remote-controlled dutch toy helicopter equipped with a camera used to “sniff out” cannabis cultivation) useless… I wish I was joking:

Although there has been some publicity in trade publications, yesterday saw the launch of 15 second long TV commercials on Comedy Central in Holland:

EDIT: Please note that the THC content of USO 31 seeds is less then 0.2 percent, conform to European legislation. The focus is on the environmental benefits of cannabis rather then growing smokable marijuana.

Posted in Cannabis News, Hemp products, Society and Cannabis

Will Obama really be ending the “War on Drugs”?

2009-05-15T01:53:07-07:00

“So, in retiring the phrase from the federal lexicon will we really be ending the “War on Drugs”?

Norm Stamper, Retired Seattle police chief and member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition makes some sensible comments about the promise of the Obama administration not to wage a war on drugs. Below you find some parts of his article about the subject in the huffington post.

US Drug Control Rescources, May 2009

Hardly. We can reasonably expect in the face of Kerlikowske’s pronouncement, an expression of shock and a circling of the wagons from key institutional forces, from frontline drug warriors to profiteering drug traffickers; from well-meaning but naïve PTAs to patronizing, fear-mongering politicians; from Big Pharma to the prison industrial complex. There’s just too much at stake, financially and ideologically, to end this remarkably divisive and durable war.

Is the Obama administration serious about implementing drug policy reform? We all know the significance of a presidential budget. It’s essentially dollars and cents representing policies and priorities. What does the administration’s “National Drug Control Budget” tell us about the Obama approach to drug issues?

In the 2010 budget, prevention takes a 10.6 percent hit while domestic law enforcement gets a boost of 2.3 percent, with “interdiction” (military and police actions designed to stem the flow of drugs into and about the country) gaining 4.4 percent. On the positive side of the ledger, treatment shows a 4.4 percent increase. And what of the never-ending seesaw battle between supply and demand initiatives? Unfortunately, demand reduction efforts (education, prevention) are down 0.8 percent, while (generally futile) supply reduction initiatives (enforcement, burning or poisoning crops) gets a 2.7 percent bump.

Still, it’s way too early to dismiss the Obama/Biden/Kerlikowske approach as just so much smoke and mirrors. The country is a-rumble with signs of change.”

source: huffingtonpost.com

Posted in Cannabis News, Society and Cannabis

White House Czar Calls for End to ‘War on Drugs’

2009-05-14T01:26:52-07:00

Good news … Finally someone in the White House who talks sense about the War on Drugs.

Kerlikowske Says Analogy Is Counterproductive
Shift Aligns With Administration Preference for Treatment Over Incarceration

The Obama administration’s new drug czar says he wants to banish the idea that the U.S. is fighting “a war on drugs,” a move that would underscore a shift favoring treatment over incarceration in trying to reduce illicit drug use.

In his first interview since being confirmed to head the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, Gil Kerlikowske said Wednesday the bellicose analogy was a barrier to dealing with the nation’s drug issues.

“Regardless of how you try to explain to people it’s a ‘war on drugs’ or a ‘war on a product,’ people see a war as a war on them,” he said. “We’re not at war with people in this country.”

Gil Kerlikowske, the new White House drug czar.

Mr. Kerlikowske’s comments are a signal that the Obama administration is set to follow a more moderate — and likely more controversial — stance on the nation’s drug problems. Prior administrations talked about pushing treatment and reducing demand while continuing to focus primarily on a tough criminal-justice approach.

The Obama administration is likely to deal with drugs as a matter of public health rather than criminal justice alone, with treatment’s role growing relative to incarceration, Mr. Kerlikowske said.

Already, the administration has called for an end to the disparity in how crimes involving crack cocaine and powder cocaine are dealt with. Critics of the law say it unfairly targeted African-American communities, where crack is more prevalent.

The administration also said federal authorities would no longer raid medical-marijuana dispensaries in the 13 states where voters have made medical marijuana legal. Agents had previously done so under federal law, which doesn’t provide for any exceptions to its marijuana prohibition.

During the presidential campaign, President Barack Obama also talked about ending the federal ban on funding for needle-exchange programs, which are used to stem the spread of HIV among intravenous-drug users.

The drug czar doesn’t have the power to enforce any of these changes himself, but Mr. Kerlikowske plans to work with Congress and other agencies to alter current policies. He said he hasn’t yet focused on U.S. policy toward fighting drug-related crime in other countries.

Mr. Kerlikowske was most recently the police chief in Seattle, a city known for experimenting with drug programs. In 2003, voters there passed an initiative making the enforcement of simple marijuana violations a low priority. The city has long had a needle-exchange program and hosts Hempfest, which draws tens of thousands of hemp and marijuana advocates.

Seattle currently is considering setting up a project that would divert drug defendants to treatment programs.

Mr. Kerlikowske said he opposed the city’s 2003 initiative on police priorities. His officers, however, say drug enforcement — especially for pot crimes — took a back seat, according to Sgt. Richard O’Neill, president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild. One result was an open-air drug market in the downtown business district, Mr. O’Neill said.

“The average rank-and-file officer is saying, ‘He can’t control two blocks of Seattle, how is he going to control the nation?’ ” Mr. O’Neill said.

Sen. Tom Coburn, the lone senator to vote against Mr. Kerlikowske, was concerned about the permissive attitude toward marijuana enforcement, a spokesman for the conservative Oklahoma Republican said.

Americas Illicit Drug Landscape: Use, Seizures and Treament

Others said they are pleased by the way Seattle police balanced the available options. “I think he believes there is a place for using the criminal sanctions to address the drug-abuse problem, but he’s more open to giving a hard look to solutions that look at the demand side of the equation,” said Alison Holcomb, drug-policy director with the Washington state American Civil Liberties Union.

Mr. Kerlikowske said the issue was one of limited police resources, adding that he doesn’t support efforts to legalize drugs. He also said he supports needle-exchange programs, calling them “part of a complete public-health model for dealing with addiction.“

Mr. Kerlikowske’s career began in St. Petersburg, Fla. He recalled one incident as a Florida undercover officer during the 1970s that spurred his thinking that arrests alone wouldn’t fix matters.

“While we were sitting there, the guy we’re buying from is smoking pot and his toddler comes over and he blows smoke in the toddler’s face,” Mr. Kerlikowske said. “You go home at night, and you think of your own kids and your own family and you realize” the depth of the problem.

Since then, he has run four police departments, as well as the Justice Department’s Office of Community Policing during the Clinton administration.

Ethan Nadelmann of the Drug Policy Alliance, a group that supports legalization of medical marijuana, said he is “cautiously optimistic” about Mr. Kerlikowske. “The analogy we have is this is like turning around an ocean liner,” he said. “What’s important is the damn thing is beginning to turn.“

James Pasco, executive director of the Fraternal Order of Police, the nation’s largest law-enforcement labor organization, said that while he holds Mr. Kerlikowske in high regard, police officers are wary.

“While I don’t necessarily disagree with Gil’s focus on treatment and demand reduction, I don’t want to see it at the expense of law enforcement. People need to understand that when they violate the law there are consequences.“

Source: Gary Fields in The Wall Street Journal (may 14th 2009)

Posted in Cannabis News, Quotes & Opinions, Society and Cannabis

Coffeeshop trial is test for Dutch drugs policy

2009-04-01T04:13:06-07:00

The owner and several employees of the biggest coffee shop in the Netherlands are being prosecuted for membership of a criminal organisation.

The outcome of the trial can have a huge impact on soft drugs policy in the Netherlands. If Meddy Willemsen, the owner of the mega coffee shop Checkpoint in Terneuzen, is convicted of encouraging illegal cannabis cultivation and running an organised supply chain, more proprietors of coffee shops could face prosecution as gang leaders.

‘Back door problem’

The announced move by the public prosecutor exposes the great paradox in the Dutch policy of tolerating the use of cannabis: so-called coffee shops are allowed to sell the soft drugs under certain conditions, but large-scale cultivation and buying bulk is illegal. Because of this anomaly in the system, weed and hashish are allowed to leave the coffee shop through the front door – in quantities of no more than 5 grammes per person – but are not allowed to be delivered to the back door. This has been dubbed the ‘back door problem’.

The contradictory policy has recently come under fire from different sides of the political spectrum. Christian Democrat house leader Pieter van Geel is proposing to end the policy of tolerance towards soft drugs altogether; he wants all coffee shops in the country closed.

Van Geel’s proposal comes after the mayors of two towns on the Belgian border decided to shut down their coffee shops because of the nuisance from drug tourists . But mayors from other municipalities that have coffee shops (mostly bigger cities and towns on the German an Belgian borders) say it is time to properly regulate the wholesale supply of the stores.

‘A new given’

André Beckers, Checkpoint’s lawyer, calls the claim a test case.

“This process can have large consequences for the existing practise if the court follows the reasoning of the prosecutor,” Beckers says. “Every coffee shop owner knows that he has to abide by the rules, but the possibility of being prosecuted as a criminal gang leader if your stock exceeds 100 grammes of weed is a new given.”

Coffee shops are permitted to stock up to 500 grammes on their premises, but in its heyday, Checkpoint, which is located close to the Belgian border, sold up to 10 kilogrammes of weed every day. Checkpoint was closed after a police raid in May 2008, but up to then the coffee shop had served 3,000 customers per day. Willemse had 90 employees and, according to information in the prosecutor’s file, his turnover reached up to 600,000 euros per week. If Willemse is convicted, the 28 million euros he allegedly made between January 2006 and May 2008 could be branded as criminal assets.

Peter Tak, a professor of criminal law, says the chances of the court following the prosecution are “substantial”. According to Tak, everything a coffee shop does is illegal, but part of the business it tolerated. Nowhere in the Dutch ‘opium law’ does it say that it is allowed to sell drugs, let alone buy or produce it. Only as long as coffee shops abide by the regulations, will they avoid prosecution, says Tak.

The rules under which coffee shops can operate were drafted by the public prosecution itself. Apart from the maximum amount allowed for stock and sale, coffee shops cannot serve alcohol, sell hard drugs, advertise or allow people under 18 in their cafes. If these rules are broken, a mayor has the authority to shut down a specific coffee shop and the owner can be prosecuted. Tak: “I am surprised that the prosecutor hasn’t tried the criminal organisation claim before.”

Drugs tourists

But the court could also rule in favour of Willemse if it reasons that because the state accepts the sale of soft drugs, it can’t pretend not to know about the cultivation and transport of the marijuana sold in the coffee shops.

In its 2007 coalition agreement, the Dutch government of Christian Democrats, Labour and ChristenUnie said it wanted to discourage coffee shops in the border areas, arguing that the tolerance policy is intended for local users, not for the – mostly Belgian and French – drugs tourists.

Cities close to the Belgian border have in the past tried different approaches to the nuisance of foreign drugs tourists. Maastricht tried to implement a system where only Dutch nationals were allowed to buy drugs, but a judge disallowed that. Bergen op Zoom and Roosendaal have shut down all eight of their coffee shops, while Eindhoven wants to create more of them, precisely to avoid the arrival of mega-coffee shops like Checkpoint in Terneuzen.

Source : nrc.nl

Posted in Cannabis News, Society and Cannabis