Inside an Amsterdam Coffeeshop - Introduction
Fri, May 15, 2009 5:05 pm
When you think about stoner dream jobs, there’s one place (other than HIGH TIMES!) that’s at the very top of every tokers list: working at a coffeeshop in Amsterdam.
To live in this stonertopia city and be surrounded by, smoke and sell the world’s best weed, seems almost too cool to be considered work. But this romanticized vision is only half the story. What’s it really like to own and run a coffeeshop, and be a Cannabis Cup champion? What’s it like to work behind the counter at a coffeeshop, and is it really possible for an American to leave everything behind, run away to the Netherlands and land a job selling weed legally?
These are the questions I’m here to answer. And to do that, cannabis power couple Derry (owner of Barneys) and his wife Sissi (owner of Amnesia) have afforded me exclusive, unprecedented access to cover the operation of their coffeeshops from the inside out.
From which strains to breed and order, to making payrolls and taxes, to the elaborate dance through the twilight zone of Dutch laws, regulations and shifting tolerances, I’ll be behind the scenes to record it all for my upcoming feature story in our Cannabis Cup preview issue this October. But for now, I’ll be reporting from the field here on HT.com as often as possible—so stay tuned!
Inside an Amsterdam Coffeeshop - Part One
Inside an Amsterdam Coffeeshop - Part Two
Inside an Amsterdam Coffeeshop - Part Three
Inside an Amsterdam Coffeeshop - Part Four
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Melanie
May 18 2009, 12:07 am
But oh my God in response to someone else's comment....they just can't make coffeeshops private!!!!! What's wrong with tourists? Isn't getting along with everyone one of the points? But if they only do that to southern ones, that doesn't include Amsterdam, does it? It looks kind of right in the middle. That's okay then...
bobo
May 17 2009, 11:17 pm
limburger-burger
May 16 2009, 4:37 pm
Limburger-Len
Sta
May 16 2009, 2:27 pm
Miss Blaze
May 15 2009, 10:56 pm
3 days ago
MAASTRICHT, Netherlands (AFP) — About 30 cannabis-vending coffee shops in the south of the Netherlands announced Tuesday they would become private members' clubs at the start of next year to keep out foreign drug tourists.
"We will transform the coffee shops from open establishments, accessible by all, to closed establishments of which clients need to be members," Maastricht's Mayor Gerd Leers told a press conference in the border town.
In the latest move away from the traditionally liberal Dutch approach to such issues as soft drugs and prostitution, coffee shops in the province of Limburg said they would start issuing membership cards.
The application procedure would take several days, in effect preventing short-term tourists from buying marijuana.
The move is backed by the national government, and is seen as a pilot project for possible expansion to other areas.
Some four million foreigners travel to Limburg every year to buy cannabis, according to a municipal official.
The measure, to be applied uniformly by all coffee shops in the province which borders Belgium and Germany, would seek to "discourage the majority of drug tourists," said Leers.
"We have been fighting for years against the nuisance brought here by the Belgians, the French and the Germans," he added.
These included damage to city property, heavy road traffic, a rising trade in hard drugs and other criminal activities.
From January 1 next year, the province will limit the sale of cannabis in its coffee shops to three grammes per person per day.
Each buyer would have to present a membership card that would work on the basis of a fingerprint, iris or some similar identification system. Purchases will only be possible by bank card or credit transfer.
Dutch law allows the consumption and possession of up to five grammes of cannabis per individual, but prohibits the cultivation and mass retail of the soft drug.
Some 700 so-called coffee shops nationwide have special licences to sell marijuana but are allowed to keep no more than 500 grammes on site.
Home Affairs Minister Guusje ter Horst told Tuesday's launch that the new project was the first step in a "harder approach to illegality" by Dutch law enforcement.
Also, the Dutch Council of State, which advises the government on legislation, had asked the European Court of Justice to weigh the legality of limiting access to Dutch coffee shops to Dutch citizens.
An answer is expected in about 18 months.
Several Dutch municipalities have recently announced plans to close all or part of the coffee shops within their borders, partly to discourage crime and drug tourism.
But Leers said closing coffee shops was not a viable alternative, as this risked "chasing clients into illegality".
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved.
1tru1
May 15 2009, 6:37 pm
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