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.
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MAP posted-by: GD