Pubdate: Sat, 01 Dec 2001 Source: Globe and Mail (Canada) Copyright: 2001, The Globe and Mail Company Contact: http://www.globeandmail.ca/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168 Page: T6 Author: Susan Smith Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?330 (Hemp - Outside U.S.) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?420 (Cannabis - Popular) MUSEUM OFFERS TOKEN TRIBUTE TO HEMP AMSTERDAM -- While Canadians struggle with the question of who can legally smoke marijuana, the Dutch continue to celebrate the answer they have embraced for more than two decades -- everybody over 18. Amsterdam, in fact, has a museum devoted exclusively to the somewhat-legal psychotropic herb, the only one of its kind in Europe. Located at Oudezijds Achterburgwal 148, sandwiched between two canals next to the famous red light district, the museum is worth a visit if you want to see something you can't see at home. It costs only seven guilders (about $4.50 Canadian) to enter, is open until 10 p.m., and refreshingly free of crowd pressure and rules about where and when you can sit down. It's very mellow in the Hash Marijuana Hemp Museum Amsterdam. And you may learn a few things. Like, did you know that the root of the word "canvas" comes from "cannabis?" That the Chinese were making paper from hemp stalks as early as 100 BC? That the last Dutch hemp-processing windmill burned down in 1914? All true. And what about those persistent rumours that Queen Victoria smoked pot to alleviate menstrual cramps? There's nothing here that provides definitive proof, but the curator seems to think it's true. A portrait of the late monarch, looking characteristically stern in her lace and pearls, is given prominence here, making her an improbable poster girl for the legalization movement. It's amazing what went on in polite society before the world's drug police began to think people were having too much fun. A 19th-century print shows hashish being smoked at the Turkish booth at the Centennial Exposition of 1876 in Chicago. Another picture shows it being used in wedding ceremonies of the 17th century. One of the main exhibits features the history of shipbuilding in Amsterdam, which helps explain how marijuana came to be so popular in the region. In the 17th century, when Dutch sailors ruled the seas, they learned ancient Roman and Phoenician techniques for processing what is now known as "industrial" hemp. The Dutch learned to smoke the dried flowers and resin of the hemp plant in South Africa at a time when tobacco smoking was gaining popularity in Europe. The museum also displays an interesting collection of exotic smoking paraphernalia from around the world -- antique hookahs from Turkey, carved coconut shells from Afghanistan, totem pipes from North America, and ceremonial pipes and bowls from Africa. One treasure is a picture painted in 1660 by David Teniers de Jonge, an Antwerp master, entitled Hemp Smoking Peasants in a Smoking House,which portrays a dissolute-looking trio drinking from an earthenware jug and smoking long pipes, while others play cards. The museum curators claim that easily grown hemp can save the planet from deforestation. They also attempt to show how marijuana can cure cancer, AIDS, multiple sclerosis and other serious diseases in addition to its well-documented benefits as a pain reliever. In a strange legalistic paradox, it is illegal in the Netherlands to grow marijuana, to import it, export it, or traffic in it. But possession of small amounts has not been a criminal offence since 1976. According to the guide book, the police have been known to raid the museum because of its back room filled with pot plants growing under bright lights and visible to visitors through large panes of glass. This could explain the reluctance of the Frank Zappa look-alike at the front desk to answer questions. A query about who owns and operates the museum was a definite non-starter. Then again, maybe he really didn't know. Come to think of it, he had a little trouble counting change when I bought my souvenir postcard. On the weekday afternoon that I was there, however, it didn't look like a raid was imminent. The cop on the corner seemed more interested in what looked to be a pimp or two who had wandered beyond the boundaries of the sex district. It is still possible, however, to be arrested for being a public nuisance if you start partying too heavily during a night on the town. About 800 so-called coffee shops in the Netherlands are licensed by local jurisdictions to sell up to five grams of marijuana or hashish to patrons over 18. There are about 300 such establishments in Amsterdam. I visited a nearby place called Extase when I was done at the museum -- for journalistic purposes, of course. I looked to be in the company of other tourists: a few young couples and a table of three young men sampling the wares as they planned their itinerary for seeing the city. The guide book says you have to ask to see the smoking menu, because -- in another strange inconsistency -- it is illegal for the shops to advertise marijuana or hash in any way, though that's about all they sell. The waiter, more clean-cut than Frank Zappa across the street, but with the same starry-eyed gaze, pegged me as a spectator as soon as I ordered my coffee without the "space cake," which was on special. There were 22 kinds of grass and 16 types of hash on the menu, a four-joint box and space tea. I thought an item called "hot-ears" sounded intriguing, but the waiter recommended the "white widow cup." When I told him I was too old for that sort of thing, he offered to sell me the menu as a souvenir for 10 guilders. As it is not illegal to possess a menu, either in the Netherlands or in Canada, I could hardly refuse. - --- MAP posted-by: GD