Dutch coffee shops face crackdown

by Sean McLachlan on

Is it the beginning of the end for Dutch tolerance of weed? The recently elected conservative coalition has promised a number of controversial measures, including curbs on immigration, banning Islamic face covering, and of more interest to travelers, cracking down on legal marijuana smoking.

The Netherlands has been a destination for pot smokers ever since marijuana was made legal in the 1970s. The experiment intended to allow the use of soft drugs like pot while clamping down on hard drugs like heroin. It has had mixed success and as the political pendulum has swung to the right in recent years, more and more curbs have been put on the coffee shops where customers can buy and smoke pot. Magic mushrooms were banned recently, and some towns are restricting coffee shops or even closing them all down. There are currently about 700 coffee shops in The Netherlands, compared with 1,200 at their peak.

Now the coalition government wants to make all coffee shops into private clubs, effectively getting rid of the drug tourists. The question is, will this work? Common sense dictates that where there’s a demand, there will be a supply. Coffee shops might get around the law by offering temporary memberships or international memberships, or allowing members to bring guests. The measure would also not stop illegal sales of drugs. What it will do, however, is reduce the number of people coming to The Netherlands specifically to smoke their vacation away. While some of the bigger and more established coffee shops will no doubt survive, it looks like the industry is in for a bad trip.

[Image courtesy Tyson Williams via Gadling’s flickr pool]

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North Korea sends meth users to firing squad, marijuana still OK

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Not that you could get there for this reason anyway, but North Korea is cracking down on narcotics use in a most North Korean way, which means you don’t want to get busted trying to score there.

Open Radio for North Korea reports:

According to a source in Hamkyungbuk-do, a declaration entitled “The Crackdown on Drug Use” was issued in Hoeryung (Hamkyungbuk-do) by the People’s Safety Agency. The declaration was posted on the window of a busy store and states that ‘any drug users will face a firing squad should they be caught. The declaration has been issued throughout the nation, the source said.

This is the first time the regime has announced a crackdown on druggies, but the sentence isn’t all that unusual. The big problem right now is meth, which is produced in Hamheung, and “even middle school students are openly using meth.”

The report adds, “North Koreans have lost hope and are depressed by the reality that they are living. They would rather be happy under the influence of drugs.”

Meanwhile, the land that the Kim family built is rather loose in its definition of “drugs.” Opium and marijuana, it seems, don’t count.

[photo by Stephen_AU via Flickr]

Drug tourists banned from Dutch city

by Sean McLachlan on


Potheads take note: unless you’re Dutch, you are no longer welcome in Maastricht.

The Dutch city passed a measure to ban foreigners from its coffee shops, where marijuana and hash are legal to buy and consume. Marc Josemans, chairman of the Association of Official Maastricht Coffee Shops, brought suit against the city, saying the ruling violates EU laws guaranteeing free commerce and free movement. An EU court, however, just ruled in favor of the city, citing that drugs are not legal everywhere in the EU so do not count as regular goods.

Owing to its location on the border with Belgium and its proximity to France and Germany, Maastricht is popular with drug tourists, attracting about 4,000 a day. An estimated 70 percent of the customers at the city’s coffee shops are foreigners.

Amsterdam has been cleaning up its act too. It has dramatically decreased its red light district and there has been discussion about making coffee shops members-only establishments so as to discourage drug tourists.

The image is an advertisement distributed by the Federal Bureau of Narcotics in 1935. Beware the friendly stranger.

California “socialite” arrested with 13 suitcases of pot at airport

by Scott Carmichael on

Lisette Lee, a 28 year old “socialite” from Van Nuys, California, has been arrested upon suspicion of transporting 506 pounds of marijuana. Now, I’ll admit that I’m no fan of anyone that describes themselves as a “socialite”, but I’m fairly sure she didn’t become famous by using her brains.

According to Port Columbus, Ohio police, Ms. Lee landed at the airport in a private jet, and started unloading 13 suitcases she claimed contained “equipment” that belonged to her boyfriend. Of course, the fact that she couldn’t name the last name of said boyfriend may have made the FBI a tad suspicious.

According to Lee, this was her third trip to Columbus, and each time she flew there, she was given between 12 and 14 suitcases to deliver to an unnamed hotel room. For each of her trips, she’d be paid $60,000.

When her personal bag was searched, officers found cocaine, marijuana, drug paraphernalia and drug ledgers. She admitted that the drugs were hers.

You obviously don’t need to be a socialite to realize that carrying that many suitcases on a private jet, and being paid $60,000 for the job may be part of something illegal. If convicted, her stupidity could end up costing her between five and forty years in prison.

[Image from: DEA]

Phoenix TSA fails to detect 20 trips with 20 pounds of pot – failure or fearmongering?

by Scott Carmichael on

Fox news in Phoenix is covering the story of two men who were running a regular pot transport scheme, delivering pot to Chicago from their home airport. The men had apparently passed through Phoenix Sky Harbor airport over 20 times, each time with almost 20 pounds of pot.

The story focuses on why the TSA failed to detect the pot, and “what else may be getting through?”. Because the men used airline buddy passes, their regular activity failed to show up on any of the automated watch systems, so they were able to book a ticket, and head directly to the airport.

The TSA issued a statement about the incident: “The mission of the TSA is to ensure the safety of the aviation system and intercept dangerous items.”

To me, that makes perfect sense – the TSA is not in charge of finding or detecting drugs. If a TSA agent happens to find a stash of marijuana hidden in a bag, I’m sure he or she would call for airport law enforcement, but in my opinion, expecting the TSA to add drugs and other items to their search list is just not possible – they have a hard enough time finding guns and bombs. That said, I can understand them not finding the pot once, or maybe twice – but to fail to notice it over twenty times does seem rather excessive.

What do you think? Is it fair to blame the TSA for not finding 20 pounds of pot taken on a plane over 20 times?

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