Dutch coffeeshops are getting increasingly chique with design furnishing and fittings replacing the inevitable Bob Marley posters and cool jazz instead of reggae or hip hop.
Hi & Lo, newly-opened in Utrecht, prefers to call itself a smoking club. The club was designed throughout by Workshop of Wonders, a Utrecht firm of architects. The host, Vincente, believes the decor and the choice of music will attract a different kind of clientele - older and well-educated. (continues)
Selling cannabis is against the law in the Netherlands, but coffeeeshops are tolerated under certain conditions. The minimum age is 18, they can only sell soft drugs and five grammes per person per day is the maximum. The must also ensure they do not cause any nuisance, otherwise they are likely to be closed down.
Amsterdam intensifies checks
A specialised team of Amsterdam's city council is going to check the capital's coffeeshops for involvement in criminal activities, according to daily newspaper Het Parool.
Research has shown that the shops employ a relatively high number of people with a police record.
There are currently 222 coffeeshops in Amsterdam where cannabis is openly sold for personal use. All applications for permission to start a new coffeeshop or renew existing permits will be scrutinised by the new team, in close cooperation with the police, public prosecutor's office and urban districts. The team will notifiy the authorities in case of suspicions about the owners, their financiers or business contacts.
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Vincente comes from where...Turkey...Libya ? He has an accent.He wants to attract the "better educated" with bigger wallets who will become longer paying clients , I think. Not thugs & trouble makers who could ruin the furniture.. He wants to make this habit appear more respectable, but it is still what it is. A bad habit .
Minding other people's business is a bad habit, bet you love the booze!
I glean three things from your comment, Saskia. You've never smoked pot. You don't understand what sort of people do. You don't like people who look or sound different from you. Are these three things linked?
Where ever he comes from, he is a respectable person just trying to run a business and make a living whilst paying his taxes. If you abolish the coffeeshops, that will only be an incentive for the black market, that by the way, WILL take over the supply to foreigners once the ban kicks in.
Yes Marco, if I was an organised criminal in Holland I would be getting my mates together to pour lots of money into the political parties and lobby groups to "go hard" on coffeeshops. Looks like the new laws are a gift to organised crime already. But the Dutch junkies today are virtually all old or geriatrics, this is so because coffeeshops are so effective at preventing new junkies. Keep the Faith, Max Harmreduction
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