Inside an Amsterdam Marijuana Coffee Shop

[Jim Finnel]

Dutch 101 for beginners: a coffee shop isn't where you get a caffeine fix. Coffee shops in the Netherlands are places where you can buy and smoke marijuana legally.

I would never advocate the usage of drugs under normal circumstances, but I visited one of these "coffee shops" and sampled their wares on a recent trip to Amsterdam. Of course, it was all strictly for research purposes.

I was accompanied on my investigation by a fellow travel writer. My colleague and I asked several locals for their coffee shop recommendations and they all suggested a place called Dampkring. We tried to find it, but after a few minutes of searching, we grew impatient and randomly walked into a coffee shop/internet cafe named "Freeworld." I didn't see anyone using laptops at Freeworld, but I did see people who looked half asleep sitting in booths and benches all around the shop.

There's no alcohol allowed in coffee shops and tobacco smokers have to sit in separate enclosed areas. Freeworld's menu consists of smoothies, milkshakes, and of course drugs. They sell both herb, hashish, and vanilla or chocolate "space muffins" that contain cannabis. Muffins cost six euros, but the smokeables all start at twelve euros. Freeworld has a five gram maximum on pot purchases to prevent freakouts and drug smuggling.

Dutch coffee shops have goodies from all around the world. At Freeworld, I saw international designer strains of marijuana like "New York Diesel" alongside cheap Jamaican pot. There was also pricy Nepalese hashish and a budget variety from Afghanistan. For your joint rolling pleasure, coffee shops provide herb grinders, free rolling papers, and filters. At Freeworld they also sell joints that are pre-rolled with "White Widow" for customers who can't master making their own.

My colleague and I ordered the White Widow, since it seemed like the shop's de facto house blend. We got 1.6 grams of the stuff for our twelve Euros and I proceeded to roll up half of the bag. As we settled in and smoked, I took my first good look around the coffee shop. Behind the bar, the manager was watching ultimate fighting on a television perched next to a fridge containing the muffins and drugs. Psychedelic decorations like stuffed aliens and blacklight sensitive paint covered the walls. In front of our seats there was a computer that was playing videos of crazy patterns synched with electronic music.

About three quarters of the way through the joint, an intense tingly sensation crept over my body. As time progressed, I found it difficult to concentrate and was laughing uncontrollably. It was awesome. I was enjoying myself, but my associate soon complained of a bad case of "the jitters." I figured his condition was probably just a bad reaction to the techno, but since the manager was beginning to close up for the night anyway, we decided to head out and get some fresh air.

We still had a sizable amount of leftover weed when we left the coffee shop. Our plane out was the next morning and I wasn't sure about the Dutch law on smoking in the street so I didn't feel safe lighting up outside. On the other hand, I couldn't bear to throw out our spare plant. I decided to eat the gram or so we had left in the bag and spend a few more hours wandering through the streets and canals. It was wonderful. Next time I'm in Amsterdam, I'm going to try the space muffins.


News Hawk: User: 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: Digital City
Author: Hunter Walker
Copyright: 2008 AOL
Contact: Digital City
Website: Inside an Amsterdam Marijuana Coffee Shop - Digital City

 

[obiwannatokie]

Oh, how I would love to visit the Netherlands sometime during the next few years.

 

[cottontail]

That was a really interesting read, especially since I work in a coffeeshop.
It's nice to know that if I went abroad, I'de fit right in. In more than one way. ;p

 

[Keith Lake]

I didn't think it was legal in the coffee shops, just tolerated as long as no more than 5 grams per day per customer

 

[wordsworm]

"I didn't think it was legal in the coffee shops"

It goes something like this: in order to comply with regulations set out by the UN (aka America's bitch), the Dutch government cannot legalize the drug 'officially.' However, it doesn't mean that it's not unofficially legal.

This Dutch trip that the author took pointed out that, damn, the dope is more expensive there than in my hometown of Montreal. This is a result of the government doing what it can to prevent grow ops. So, while it's cool that they have the cafes, and we can drool, imagining how great it would be to have a coffee shop like that near you, the fact is that even they could use some improvement.

I think, were I so gifted with the choice of which country to have Canada's laws emulate, I'd go with the Australians and their self-supply laws. I know it's not the same all over the country, but nothing would tickle me better than being able to smoke my own natural reefer from my back yard, or closet, or whatever spare space I had.