Smugglers arrested with less than three kilos of cocaine at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport will not be prosecuted under plans by the Dutch Government. The policy is designed to ease pressure on the judicial system due to a rising number of arrests of drug couriers. They are mostly from the Caribbean islands of the Netherlands Antilles. Some MPs fear the new policy will make the Netherlands a target for criticism. But the government says it is the only way to deal with the growing problem. [continues 137 words]
Public health researchers in the Netherlands now believe that there is "converging evidence" to show that using cannabis is a risk factor for schizophrenia. Researchers from the Netherlands Institute of Mental Health and Addiction warn that cannabis approximately doubles the risk of schizophrenia and that the risk increases in proportion to the amount of the drug used. The researchers draw their conclusions from a review of five longitudinal studies recently published in four medical journals, including the British Medical Journal (Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Geneeskunde 2003;44:2178-83). [continues 379 words]
The conservative coalition led by the Christian Democrats that currently governs the Netherlands has floated a proposal to restrict access to the country's famous cannabis coffee shops to Dutch nationals. The government has said it is responding to foreign pressure, notably from Germany, whose hash-hungry citizens flood across the border by the thousands each day to score, but the attack on the coffee shops fits precisely with the coalition's own anti-drug agenda. The Netherlands effectively decriminalized marijuana possession in 1976, and in the years since, the country's coffee houses have been tolerated as a technically illegal but socially acceptable means of allowing for the consumption and sale of cannabis. [continues 919 words]
A thick pall of sweet-smelling hashish has hung over the Netherlands since the first "coffee shop" opened its doors in 1972. Since then, the country's famously relaxed drug laws have attracted droves of weed lovers from across the globe and earned the country a sometimes controversial reputation for unparalleled liberality. At its peak in 1997 the country's network of coffee shops ran to almost 1,200 cafes where anyone over 18 could exercise their legal right to buy up to five grams (a sixth of an ounce) of marijuana at a time. But thirty years later, the novelty appears to have worn off and the increasingly conservative Dutch authorities are drawing up plans to turn back the clock. [continues 586 words]
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - Faced with massive smuggling of ecstasy, a U.S. official said Friday the Dutch government needs to give authorities the power to use wiretaps and infiltrate criminal gangs to crack down on its production. The Dutch government "isn't serious enough" about closing down laboratories that ship tons of synthetic drugs to the United States, said John Walters, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. Walters, attending a conference in Rome, spoke by telephone with The Associated Press. [continues 575 words]
THE Dutch, famous for their tolerant society, are starting to think it has all gone too far, with many complaining that they have ended up with an unacceptable free-for-all. And behind the increasing strident calls for more law and order is a growing tendency to blame crime on ethnic minorities. Just a few years ago, the police refused to register the ethnic origins of criminal suspects. But after a series of attacks in which black youths killed white people, the mayors of several Dutch cities have started to single out specific groups from North Africa and the Caribbean. [continues 396 words]
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands -- Marijuana went on sale Monday at Dutch pharmacies to help bring relief to thousands of patients suffering from cancer, AIDS or multiple sclerosis. About 7,000 patients will be eligible for prescription marijuana, sold in containers of 0.16 ounces at most pharmacies. The drug will be covered by health insurance for the first time. Canada, Germany and Australia already allow restricted use of medicinal marijuana or its active chemical, but the Dutch go a step further by providing the drug and regulating its quality. In the United States, 14 states allow medicinal use despite a federal ban on the drug. [continues 126 words]
ROTTERDAM, Netherlands (AFP) - If pot is officially good for you in the Netherlands, it is proving even better for James Burton, a US citizen whose once semi-clandestine business grew to become one the Dutch health service's two official providers of medical cannabis. Not that Burton, 56, started out as a freewheeling child of the hippie era, quite the contrary. He first took to cannabis not on a rebellious campus, but serving in the Vietnam war. "It helped us to get on," he recalled. [continues 622 words]
America Takes A Hit In The Drug War As Legalized Grass Takes Root Across The European Continent Sept. 15 issue — Paul van Hoorn, 71, suffers from chronic glaucoma. His wife, Jo, 70, has painful arthritis. So every few days, the two septuagenarians shuffle to their local "coffee shop," ever watchful for robbers, to buy a little marijuana. Last week Dutch authorities decided that the van Hoorns, among many others, should change their ways—by going to their local pharmacy. Effective immediately, the government will begin dealing in Nederwiet, or Netherweed—cannabis, by another name, grown in state-sanctioned greenhouses and sold by prescription with official government approval. [continues 915 words]
Being drunk on duty is one thing, but the Dutch government is concerned that too many of its police officers are getting stoned on and off duty and is to ban them from "coffee shops", or drug cafes. The interior minister, Johan Remkes, fears that the spectacle of spliff-wielding police - in or out of uniform - is chipping away at the force's respectable public image. He also believes that the Netherlands' finest risk being accused of hypocrisy when they carry out spot checks for drugs if they are dabbling in the weed themselves. [continues 303 words]
The decision by the Dutch government to legalize cannabis prescriptions for patients suffering from serious illnesses has aroused the interest of countries in Europe and beyond. In a move that raised few eyebrows in the Netherlands and caused other countries around the world to turn their curiosity and interest towards the liberal European nation, the Dutch government legalized the medical use of cannabis on Monday, paving the way for doctors to prescribe the narcotic as a painkiller for those who are seriously ill. [continues 891 words]
The Netherlands yesterday became the first country to legalise the medical use of cannabis, allowing doctors to prescribe the narcotic as a painkiller for those who are seriously ill. In a move that is certain to put pressure on other countries to follow suit, chemists began selling the drug for a price of between Euro40 and Euro50 (UKP27 to UKP33) for a 5g (0.18oz) bag. Although that is approximately twice the cost of buying the drug in one of the country's 1,500 coffee shops, the government claimed that there was a huge difference in quality. [continues 222 words]
The Netherlands will this week become the world's first country to make cannabis available as a prescription drug to treat chronically ill patients, a Dutch health official said. Pharmacies can sell cannabis to sufferers of cancer, HIV, multiple sclerosis and Tourette's Syndrome in a ground-breaking acceptance of the drug's medicinal use. "It's a historic step. What is unique is that we are making it available on a prescription-only basis through pharmacies," said Willem Scholten, head of the Office of Medicinal Cannabis at the Dutch Health Ministry. [continues 134 words]
Amsterdam - The Netherlands is to make dagga available as a prescription drug to treat chronically ill patients. It would be world's first country to do so, a top Dutch health official said yesterday. The Dutch government has given the country's 1 650 pharmacies the green light to sell cannabis to sufferers of cancer, HIV, multiple sclerosis (MS) and Tourette's syndrome from this week in a ground-breaking acceptance of the drug's medicinal use. "It's a historic step. What is unique is that we are making it available on a prescription-only basis through pharmacies," said Willem Scholten, head of the Office of Medicinal Cannabis at the Dutch Health Ministry. [continues 94 words]
Marijuana went on sale Monday at Dutch pharmacies to help bring relief to thousands of patients suffering from cancer, AIDS or multiple sclerosis. Around 7,000 patients will be eligible for prescription marijuana, sold in containers of .16 ounces at most pharmacies. Labeled "Cannabis" and tested by the Ministry of Health, the drug will be covered by health insurance for the first time under a new law that went into effect in March. Canada, Germany and Australia already allow restricted use of medicinal marijuana or its active chemical, but the Dutch go a step further by providing the drug and regulating its quality. [continues 275 words]
AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS -- This week the Netherlands will become the world's first country to make cannabis available as a prescription drug in pharmacies to treat chronically ill patients, a top health official said Sunday. The Dutch government has given the country's 1,650 pharmacies the green light to sell cannabis starting Monday to those with HIV, cancer, multiple sclerosis and Tourette's syndrome in a groundbreaking acceptance of the drug's medicinal use. "It's a historic step. What is unique is that we are making it available on a prescription-only basis through pharmacies," said Willem Scholten, head of the Office of Medicinal Cannabis at the Health Ministry. [continues 58 words]
The move by Netherlands this week to start selling cannabis as a prescription drug to seriously ill patients is being closely watched by other European countries. The UK, Belgium and Luxembourg were particularly interested to see how the Netherlands fares as the first country in the world to sell the drug on prescription, the Dutch health ministry said. The Dutch move is the latest pioneering social reform in a country which was first to legalise euthanasia and where cannabis, although illegal, is widely available in licensed coffee shops. [continues 345 words]
Dutch pharmacies began sales of marijuana to help patients suffering from nausea or pain associated with cancer, AIDS or multiple sclerosis. About 7,000 patients will be eligible for prescription marijuana, sold in containers of about one-fifth of an ounce at $48 for a dose with a tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content of 15 percent, and $60 for an 18 percent version. Canada, Germany and Australia allow restricted use of medicinal marijuana, but the Dutch will also provide the drug and regulate its quality. In the United States, 14 states allow medicinal use despite a federal ban on the drug. [end]
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) -- Marijuana went on sale at Dutch pharmacies yesterday to help bring relief to thousands of patients suffering from cancer, AIDS or multiple sclerosis. Around 7,000 patients will be eligible for prescription marijuana, sold in containers of .16 ounces. Labeled "Cannabis" and tested by the health ministry, it's covered by health insurance. Canada, Germany and Australia allow restricted use of medicinal marijuana, but the Dutch go further by providing the drug and regulating its quality. Dutch patients are recommended not to smoke the plant, but to use vaporizers or make marijuana tea. It will be prescribed to those suffering from nausea or pain associated with cancer, Tourette's syndrome, AIDS or multiple sclerosis. Two varieties offer a lower or higher content of Tetrahydrocannabinol, the active chemical. It costs $48 for a THC content of 15%, and $60 for an 18% version. [end]
From Monday, Dutch doctors will be able to prescribe medicinal cannabis to patients. Soft-drug use is tolerated in the Netherlands, but for the past two years the government's Bureau for Medicinal Cannabis (BMC) has been researching the effect of the drug on patients. Other countries, including the UK, are also considering allowing the sale of the drug in pharmacies. Medicinal cannabis is intended as a pain reliever for cancer and Aids patients, and for people suffering from other illnesses, such as multiple sclerosis. [continues 130 words]
ALEX CHADWICK, host: As of yesterday, certain medical patients in the Netherlands can ease their ailments by buying government marijuana in pharmacies. The Dutch have long been known for their socially tolerant ways. But the Netherlands was also a bastion of the austere religious tradition of Calvinism. And the Dutch have a reputation as hardworking, clog-wearing types. DAY TO DAY's Madeleine Brand explores the contradictions. MADELEINE BRAND reporting: Remember Pim Fortuyn? He was the Dutch politician who was assassinated last year. He was openly gay yet politically hard right, and his anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant stance was embraced by many in the Netherlands. Perhaps the embodiment of a kind of social schizophrenia among the Dutch? [continues 612 words]
Pharmacies in the Netherlands will stock cannabis from today. The Dutch are the first to permit cannabis to be legally dispensed to those with a doctor's prescription, and other countries - including Britain, parts of the US, Australia and Canada, where plans for a similar system are at an advanced stage - will be watching the Dutch experience closely. More than 2,000 pharmacies in the Netherlands are legally obliged from today to stock medical cannabis and dispense advice to users on the merits of brewing the mixture of dried parts of the hemp plant as a tea. They are also expected to provide instruction on how to become high by using it in combination with an inhaler. [continues 521 words]
Pharmacies To Sell Medical Marijuana To The Chronically Ill In 'Historic Step' AMSTERDAM -- The Netherlands this week will become the first country to make cannabis available as a prescription drug, allowing pharmacies to sell it to chronically ill patients, a top Dutch health official said yesterday. The Dutch government has given the country's 1,650 pharmacies the green light to sell cannabis to people who have cancer, HIV, multiple sclerosis and Tourette's syndrome in a ground-breaking acceptance of the drug's medicinal use. [continues 480 words]
AMSTERDAM - the Netherlands this week will become the first country to make cannabis available as a prescription drug in pharmacies to treat chronically ill patients, a top Dutch health official said yesterday. The Dutch government has given the countries 1,650 pharmacies the green light to sell marijuana to sufferers of cancer,HIV, Multiple Sclerosis, and Tourette's, syndrome in a ground-breaking acceptance of the drugs medical value. [end]
AMSTERDAM - This week, the Netherlands will become the first country to make prescribed cannabis available at pharmacies, a top Dutch health official said Sunday. The Dutch government has given the country's 1,650 pharmacies the green light to sell marijuana to people with cancer, HIV, multiple sclerosis and Tourette's syndrome. [end]
Dutch Ban on Public Smoking Also Threatens Tradition of Social Marijuana Use AMSTERDAM -- The latest news from the mecca of marijuana users is a real mindblower. Under a new ban on smoking in public places, Dutch coffee shops would be allowed to continue selling joints, but customers would have to go outside to smoke them. To the chagrin of the owners of the country's popular marijuana smoking establishments, broad national health guidelines due to take effect next January seem to have inadvertently struck at the heart of the liberal Dutch drug policy. [continues 499 words]
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - The latest news from the mecca of marijuana users is a real mind-blower. Under a new ban on smoking in public places, Dutch coffee shops will be allowed to sell joints, but their customers will have to go outside to smoke them. To the chagrin of the owners of the country's popular smoking establishments, national health guidelines due to take effect next January seem to be inadvertently striking the heart of the liberal Dutch drugs policy. The first coffee shop selling marijuana and hashish opened in the Netherlands in 1972 and they now number more than 800 countrywide. In Amsterdam, millions of tourists a year sample the vast varieties advertised on menus. [continues 147 words]
AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS - The latest news from the mecca of marijuana users is a real mindblower. Under a new ban on smoking in public places, Dutch coffee shops would be allowed to continue selling joints, but customers would have to go outside to smoke them. To the chagrin of the owners of the country's popular marijuana smoking establishments, broad national health guidelines due to take effect next January seem to have inadvertently struck at the heart of the Dutch drug policy. [continues 289 words]
EUROPE'S mecca for marijuana users has suffered a sobering shock. Under a new ban on smoking in public places, the infamous Dutch coffee shops can still sell joints, but their customers will have to go outside to smoke them. The Netherlands' new national health guidelines were aimed at second-hand smoke from tobacco, not marijuana. Due to take effect next January, they are fiercely contested by Dutch restaurateurs and bar owners. But they are also threatening to drive a stake into the heart of the liberal Dutch drugs policy. [continues 594 words]
For the Netherlands' famous network of cannabis-peddling coffee shops the high times could be about to be stubbed out - for good. A tough new anti-smoking law due to take effect from January of next year is about to turn the Dutch work place into a smoke-free zone and coffee shops are not exempted. Under the new law every company in the country must ensure that their employees are not exposed to tobacco smoke. Lighting up a joint in one of 800 coffee shops therefore faces extinction from 2005. [continues 266 words]
AMSTERDAM -- It takes about a five-minute walk after arriving at Central Station to realize you've just landed on Fantasy Island. With working girls shaking their thing and beckoning for business in bay windows, shopping that has an eye-opening amount of pornography and the tangy smell of marijuana wafting out every time a coffee shop door is opened, the anything-goes fantasy is not exactly for everyone. Touring the Red Light District, the lovely canals that run through it and the historic architecture is akin to studying the brain of an aging rock star who was blessed with a prodigious sense of taste. [continues 1379 words]
Semi-legal Dope Smokes Out Travellers AMSTERDAM -- It takes about a five-minute walk after arriving at Central Station to realize you've landed on Fantasy Island. Working girls beckon from bay windows, shops boast an eye-opening amount of pornography and the tangy smell of marijuana wafts out every time a coffee shop door is opened. It's one small part of one city, but Amsterdam has become a flashpoint for the marijuana debate. It is a city where people can wander into cafes and buy small amounts of cannabis without fear of arrest. Some say this country has the most effective drug policy in the world. [continues 798 words]
AMSTERDAM -- It takes about a five-minute walk after arriving at Central Station to realize you've just landed on Fantasy Island. With working girls shaking their thing and beckoning for business in bay windows, shopping that has an eye-opening amount of pornography and the tangy smell of marijuana wafting out every time a coffee-shop door is opened, the anything-goes fantasy is not exactly for everyone. Touring the red light district, the lovely canals that run through it and the historic architecture is akin to studying the brain of an aging rock star who was blessed with a prodigious sense of taste. [continues 1324 words]
The first mistake the unrefined marijuana sampler invariably makes is thinking the stronger the cannabis, the better. "Everyone comes in here thinking that strong is good and that is absolutely wrong," says a pot tour guide who goes by the name Berry and plies his trade at the Cannabis College in the heart of Amsterdam. German tourist Mich Knect, 23, listens to his instruction carefully. He is told to look for resinous plants with profuse white, crystallized flowering heads. Berry explains that chemicals are added to hydroponic marijuana during cultivation to cull a more potent pot when smoked. [continues 265 words]
AMSTERDAM -- The first mistake the unrefined marijuana sampler invariably makes is thinking the stronger the cannabis, the better. "Everyone comes in here thinking that strong is good and that is absolutely wrong," said a pot tour guide who goes by the name Berry and plies his trade at the Cannabis College in the heart of Amsterdam. German tourist Mich Knect, 23, listens to his instruction carefully. He is told to look for resinous plants with profuse white, crystallized flowering heads. Berry explains that chemicals are added to hydroponic marijuana during cultivation to cull a more potent pop when smoked. [continues 251 words]
A Policy Of Tolerance In The Netherlands Has Created An Indifferent View Of Marijuana And One Of The Lowest Pot-Smoking Rates In The Industrialized World. AMSTERDAM -- It takes about a five-minute walk after arriving at Central Station to realize you've just landed on Fantasy Island. With working girls beckoning for business in bay windows and the tangy smell of marijuana wafting out every time a coffee shop door is opened, the anything-goes fantasy is not exactly for everyone. [continues 1098 words]
The first mistake the unrefined marijuana sampler invariably makes is thinking the stronger the cannabis, the better. "Everyone comes in here thinking that strong is good and that is absolutely wrong," said a pot tour guide who goes by the name Berry and plies his trade at the Cannabis College in the heart of Amsterdam. German tourist Mich Knect, 23, listens to his instruction carefully. He is told to look for resinous plants with profuse white, crystallized flowering heads. Berry explains chemicals are added to hydroponic marijuana during cultivation to cull a more potent pop when smoked. [continues 355 words]
AMSTERDAM -- It takes about a five-minute walk after arriving at Central Station to realize you've just landed on Fantasy Island. With working girls shaking their things and beckoning for business in bay windows, shopping that has an eye-opening amount of pornography and the tangy smell of marijuana wafting out every time a coffee-shop door is opened, the anything-goes fantasy is not for everyone. Touring the Red Light District, the lovely canals that run through it and the historic architecture, is akin to studying the brain of an aging rock star who was blessed with a prodigious sense of taste. [continues 1350 words]
The first mistake the untutored marijuana sampler makes is thinking the stronger the cannabis, the better. "Everyone comes in here thinking that strong is good and that is absolutely wrong," said a pot tour guide named Berry who plies his trade at the Cannabis College in the heart of Amsterdam. German tourist Mich Knect, 23, listens to instructions carefully. Berry explains chemicals are added to hydroponic marijuana to produce a more potent pop. "This is not good," Berry said. "You have to think of it like buying a good bottle of wine. If chemicals were added, the connoisseur would spit it out. Chemical-free is the proper way, although no one seems to care anymore." [continues 103 words]
THE HAGUE - A large majority of the Second Chamber supports the plea of the Maastricht Court president Lampe for legalisation of soft drugs. Only CDA (Christian democrats - hb) wants to keep marijuana and hash under criminal law to prevent the Netherlands from being flooded by drug tourists. Only CDA wants to keep hash under criminal law. CDA advocates strict adherence to current tolerance policy. "We must tune our drug policy with neighbouring countries. Otherwise we only import more drugs misery", CDA mp Van Haersma Buma says. VVD (liberal conservatives - hb) mp Griffith states that the opinions of Judge Lampe are in full agreement with the opinions of her party. "Drugs are a part of our society, you have to live with that." [continues 274 words]
Two years ago a few of us realised that it would be good to have a MAP-like service covering the Dutch press, so we started several mailing lists and a web page - all hosted by DrugSense - and several newshawks have provided a steady stream of articles since then (thanks, Peter and Job of MDGH!). Fortunately, the Dutch press landscape is not that large (which at the same time gives me an idea about the amount of work done by Mappers in the US). Although the current number of subscribers of MAP-NL is limited (around one hundred) they are from most of the relevant Dutch institutions (a.o. ministerial departments). MAP-NL clippings are incorporated in newsletters by several of these. [continues 184 words]
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - Just what the doctor ordered? Pharmacies may fill prescriptions for marijuana and patients can get the cost covered by insurance, according to a law that went into effect Monday. Doctors in the famously liberal Netherlands have long recommended marijuana to cancer patients as an appetite enhancer and to combat pain and nausea. But it is usually bought at one of the country's 800 ``coffee shops,'' where the plant is sold openly while police look the other way. The Dutch government will license several official growers later this year. In the meantime, pharmacies will have to decide for themselves where to get the marijuana. Many pharmacies use marijuana distributed by Maripharm, a company that advertises its product as "standardized, vacuum-packed and bearing patient information and dose advice.'' [end]
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands -- Just what the doctor ordered? Pharmacies may fill prescriptions for marijuana and patients can get the cost covered by insurance, according to a law that went into effect yesterday. Doctors in the famously liberal Netherlands have long recommended marijuana to cancer patients as an appetite enhancer and to combat pain and nausea. But it is usually bought at one of the country's 800 "coffee shops," where the plant is sold openly while police look the other way. The law also seeks to standardize levels of THC, the psychoactive chemical found in marijuana. The percentage of THC in Dutch marijuana has increased sharply in the past several years. [continues 67 words]
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - Just what the doctor ordered? Pharmacies may fill prescriptions for marijuana and patients can get the cost covered by insurance, according to a law that went into effect Monday. Doctors in the famously liberal Netherlands have long recommended marijuana to cancer patients as an appetite enhancer and to combat pain and nausea. But it is usually bought at one of the country's 800 "coffee shops," where the plant is sold openly while police look the other way. "The health minister said, look, doctors are prescribing marijuana to their patients anyway, and there are many medicinal users, so we may as well regulate it," said Bas Kuik, a spokesman for the Dutch Ministry of Health. [continues 268 words]
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) -- Just what the doctor ordered? Pharmacies may fill prescriptions for marijuana and patients can get the cost covered by insurance, according to a law that went into effect Monday. Doctors in the famously liberal Netherlands have long recommended marijuana to cancer patients as an appetite enhancer and to combat pain and nausea. But it is usually bought at one of the country's 800 "coffee shops," where the plant is sold openly while police look the other way. [continues 79 words]
AMSTERDAM -- Pharmacies may fill prescriptions for marijuana and patients can get the cost covered by insurance, according to a law that went into effect Monday. Doctors in the famously liberal Netherlands have long recommended marijuana to cancer patients as an appetite enhancer and to combat pain and nausea. But it is usually bought at one of the country's 800 "coffee shops," where the plant is sold openly while police look the other way. "The health minister said, look, doctors are prescribing marijuana to their patients anyway, and there are many medicinal users, so we may as well regulate it," said Bas Kuik, a spokesman for the Dutch Ministry of Health. [end]
AMSTERDAM -- Just what the doctor ordered? Pharmacies may fill prescriptions for marijuana and patients can get the cost covered by insurance, according to a law that went into effect Monday. Doctors in the famously liberal Netherlands have long recommended marijuana to cancer patients as an appetite enhancer and to combat pain and nausea. But it is usually bought at one of the country's 800 "coffee shops," where the plant is sold openly while police look the other way. [end]
AMSTERDAM.-- Pharmacies may fill prescriptions for marijuana and patients can get the cost covered by insurance, according to a law that took effect Monday in the Netherlands. [end]
Huge Illegal Trade Fuelled By Thousands Crossing Border Every Day VENLO, Netherlands -- Fed up with thrill-seeking German drug tourists, the Netherlands has decided to turn the hundreds of coffee shops which line its border into German-free zones. The plan - which would involve ordering coffee shops in areas bordering Germany to serve only Dutch residents in possession of valid "membership cards" - is causing a stir. But the justice ministry and local officials say they will press ahead. The problem, they say, is becoming unbearable. [continues 577 words]
Inside Netherlands
