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The GanjaCat
Cannabis Sacrament Minister
Joined: 22 Apr 2003
Posts: 216
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 Posted: Thu May 29, 2003 1:36 pm Post subject: OH F**CK! The End of Paradise? |
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Netherlands: Smoking Ban Could Close Cannabis Cafes
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03.n788.a01.html
Newshawk: JimmyG
Pubdate: Thu, 29 May 2003
Source: Guardian, The (UK)
Copyright: 2003 Guardian Newspapers Limited
Contact: letters@guardian.co.uk
Website: http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardian/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/175
Author: Andrew Osborn, The Guardian
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
SMOKING BAN COULD CLOSE CANNABIS CAFES
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  in one of 800 coffee shops therefore faces extinction from 2005.
Coffee shops will still be allowed to sell s but their customers will have to go outside to smoke. Unsurprisingly the country's marijuana retailers are not pleased. "We might as well just shut up shop," Dick Langereis, the manager of two Amsterdam coffee shops, told the daily Trouw. "Just let them try and enforce this in the Hague," added a man called Gilbert who runs a coffee shop in the city of Nijmegen.
However a spokesman from the Dutch health ministry told the Guardian that the law will be rigorously policed.
"Consumer authorities will carry out random spot checks," he said. "Coffee shops are just like any other companies - they will have to follow the law."
Customers could scarcely believe their ears yesterday. "They've got to be out of their minds," said Annemiek van Royan, a regular at the Kashmir Lounge in Amsterdam. "The best part is coming here to relax. It makes my day."
The first Dutch coffee shop opened in 1972 and although cannabis is technically illegal its use and sale has been tolerated ever since. "The point of going to a coffee shop is to smoke," said Arjan Roskam, chairman of the union of cannabis retailers. Some have floated the idea of heated outdoor terraces to get round the ban.
"We only employ smokers," said Mr Langereis. "If you work for us you are a smoker and all our customers are smokers so this is just crazy."
Coffee shops had a turnover of Euro 300m ( UKP220m ) in 1999, the latest year for which figures are available.
MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager |
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Ferre
Cannabis Sacrament Minister.
Joined: 14 Apr 2003
Posts: 7295
Location: Amsterdam
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| Posted: Thu May 29, 2003 9:02 pm Post subject: |
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Hehe, that doesn't go for a Ministry, as it's no "work place"      
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electric
getting into high spirits
Joined: 24 May 2003
Posts: 9
Location: an Other place(NC)
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| Posted: Fri May 30, 2003 12:56 am Post subject: so-where do we build the temple? |
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If a Ministry is exempt from the new law,
where do we build the temple- in Amsterdam or some other city, or in a small town so we can enclose a field to smoke in?
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Ferre
Cannabis Sacrament Minister.
Joined: 14 Apr 2003
Posts: 7295
Location: Amsterdam
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| Posted: Fri May 30, 2003 1:26 am Post subject: |
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High electric,  at the Ministry,
We are getting all the paperwork done at the moment and our temple-in-Amsterdam will be at the Oudeschans t/o 134, the formel "T-boat coffeeshop" wich is closed now since April 2002, as soon as all the official documents are signed and the THC-Ministry officially registered.
This location has it's own "cannabis history" and is, for some people on this planet a landmark even. We hope that many ministry's will follow in the near future, as well in the Netherlands as in all other countries.
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Echo
Cannabis Sacrament Minister
Joined: 14 Apr 2003
Posts: 1899
Location: England
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| Posted: Fri May 30, 2003 9:08 pm Post subject: |
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I am glad to read that the ban won't affect the ministry 
I am concerned though because I feel this will have a negative impact on the whole smoking industry in Holland and in Amsterdam, and an even more negative effect on the pro cannabis campaigners' morale worldwide. I view this as an act of war.
We should hit back 
Echo
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Drrock
regular contributor
Joined: 15 May 2003
Posts: 35
Location: SW USA
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| Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2003 9:20 am Post subject: |
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This to me sounds like an "unenforceable law" At least I hope.
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