The notorious Dutch "coffee shop" faces a unique conundrum under a new public smoking ban: its patrons can still light up their cannabis joints but no longer if blended with tobacco.
The Netherlands, which tolerates the use of “soft” drugs, will banish tobacco smoke from restaurants, cafes and other public places from July 1.
But as it follows the example of other European Union members in curbing smoking for public health reasons, the country finds itself in a singular position as the only one to allow, since 1976, marijuana use in licensed cafes.
While the new law does not prohibit the smoking of cannabis in coffee shops, owners are coming up new strategies to stay afloat in a country where users traditionally prefer their cannabis joints mixed with tobacco.
The Any Day coffee shop in Amsterdam has introduced a novel gadget that produces a new kind of high to keep clients’ attention.
The machine, like vaporizers sometimes used for medicinal purposes, works like a water pipe but without combustion. It transforms the cannabis into vapor, which is then inhaled.
With no tobacco and no paper, “the vapor broadens the user’s thoughts without rendering him apathetic,” explained its creator Evert, who did not want to give his full name. “People thank me for having changed their lives.”
The Cremers pub in The Hague, which allows patrons to smoke cannabis at the bar counter, is planning a segregated smoking section to comply with the law and keep its clients happy.
Many others are likely to follow suit, provided they have the space. But some may have to change to over-the-counter sales.
Former coffee shop Boerejongens, which means “young farmers,” on the outskirts of Amsterdam, shifted its focus a few months ago in anticipation of the new law, retaining only its sales outlet.
It is transforming its former marijuana smoking area into a coffee house — the original kind.
A handful of cannabis buyers are drinking coffee while preparing joints to smoke later. The coffee is still only a fraction of the business, said Boerejongens manager Martial van Bennekom.
“The vast majority of our clients nowadays just buy the grass and leave,” he said.
Owners of some coffee shops said that by going this route, Boerejongens had rid itself of its former bad clients — those who spend a whole day without ordering a single drink or sometimes get aggressive.
And they fear this welcome spin-off would give ammunition to the opponents of Dutch coffee shops — conceivably supporting the argument that there was no need for them anymore.
Marijuana users appear unfazed by the changes in the pipeline.
They would buy it and smoke at home, several enthusiasts shrugged indifferently as they dragged on their joints.
Sociologist Nicole Maalste, however, warned this could hold a risk in itself.
“The coffee shop is a place where one learns to smoke [cannabis] among people who know what they are doing,” she said. “It is a place where help can be available to those who use too much.” If coffee shops are reduced to mere vending points, that would mean the end of the “center of control and assistance” for users, she said.
Youngsters might also “turn to dealers who will introduce them to other, harder drugs,” said the owner of the Any Day coffee shop, who asked that only his first name, Max, be used.
Many coffee shop owners, while ready to try chartering a new course, doubt the ability of the authorities to enforce the new law for a lack of qualified inspectors.
Forensic laboratories have already warned they have too much work “to analyze the tobacco content of joints seized,” said Michael Veling, owner of the coffee shop Kuil (The Hole) in Amsterdam.
In late October of 1873 the government of Japan decided against sending a military expedition to Korea to force that nation to open trade relations. Across the government supporters of the expedition resigned immediately. The spectacle of revolt by disaffected samurai began to loom over Japanese politics. In January of 1874 disaffected samurai attacked a senior minister in Tokyo. A month later, a group of pro-Korea expedition and anti-foreign elements from Saga prefecture in Kyushu revolted, driven in part by high food prices stemming from poor harvests. Their leader, according to Edward Drea’s classic Japan’s Imperial Army, was a samurai
Located down a sideroad in old Wanhua District (萬華區), Waley Art (水谷藝術) has an established reputation for curating some of the more provocative indie art exhibitions in Taipei. And this month is no exception. Beyond the innocuous facade of a shophouse, the full three stories of the gallery space (including the basement) have been taken over by photographs, installation videos and abstract images courtesy of two creatives who hail from the opposite ends of the earth, Taiwan’s Hsu Yi-ting (許懿婷) and Germany’s Benjamin Janzen. “In 2019, I had an art residency in Europe,” Hsu says. “I met Benjamin in the lobby
April 22 to April 28 The true identity of the mastermind behind the Demon Gang (魔鬼黨) was undoubtedly on the minds of countless schoolchildren in late 1958. In the days leading up to the big reveal, more than 10,000 guesses were sent to Ta Hwa Publishing Co (大華文化社) for a chance to win prizes. The smash success of the comic series Great Battle Against the Demon Gang (大戰魔鬼黨) came as a surprise to author Yeh Hung-chia (葉宏甲), who had long given up on his dream after being jailed for 10 months in 1947 over political cartoons. Protagonist
Peter Brighton was amazed when he found the giant jackfruit. He had been watching it grow on his farm in far north Queensland, and when it came time to pick it from the tree, it was so heavy it needed two people to do the job. “I was surprised when we cut it off and felt how heavy it was,” he says. “I grabbed it and my wife cut it — couldn’t do it by myself, it took two of us.” Weighing in at 45 kilograms, it is the heaviest jackfruit that Brighton has ever grown on his tropical fruit farm, located