A new era kicked off in Amsterdam’s Red Light District on Thursday, with a ban on smoking cannabis on the streets officially taking effect.
The ban is part of a city-wide effort, pushed by Mayor Femke Halsema, to make the famous area more hospitable to its residents and workers.
According to Reuters, signs “were posted in the canal-lined neighbourhood known for its brothels, sex clubs and marijuana cafes, which attract millions of tourists a year, but are a nuisance to residents.”
Those found in violation of the new law will face a €100 (or about $110) fine.
“Residents of the old town suffer a lot from mass tourism and alcohol and drug abuse in the streets. Tourists also attract street dealers who in turn cause crime and insecurity. The atmosphere can get grim especially at night. People who are under the influence hang around for a long time. Residents cannot sleep well and the neighborhood becomes unsafe and unlivable,” the city council said in a statement at the time.
“A smoking ban on the street should reduce nuisance. We are also looking at a pick-up ban at certain times for soft drugs. If the nuisance does not decrease enough, we will investigate whether we can ban smoking on terraces at coffee shops,” the council added.
According to Reuters, people “will still be allowed to smoke inside and on the terraces of coffee shops selling marijuana and hash in the district and other parts of the city.”
The pot smoking ban is part of an effort led by Halsema, Amsterdam’s first female mayor, to improve conditions in the Red Light District.
CNN reported in 2019 that Halsema had “presented four options aimed at protecting sex workers from degrading conditions, tackling crime, and reducing the impact of tourism in Amsterdam’s De Wallen red-light district.”
“Four scenarios have been proposed for discussion including closing the curtains on the windows so sex workers can’t be seen from the street, fewer window-style rooms, moving the brothels to new locations elsewhere in Amsterdam and the possibility of a sex worker “hotel” being created,” according to CNN. The plans aim to protect sex workers from gawking tourists and their camera phones, and also to combat a rise in abuses such as human trafficking. The four proposals will be discussed with sex workers, residents and businesses in July, before being taken to the city council in September. The plans will ultimately be developed into a new policy on sex work, the mayor’s office confirmed.”
The Red Light District, known locally in Amsterdam as the De Wallen neighborhood, has long been a popular destination for tourists visiting the city.
CNN reported earlier this year that it is “estimated that about 10% to 15% of Amsterdam’s tourist industry is based in the red light district.”
“City officials want the De Wallen neighborhood, as the district is known in Dutch, to draw visitors who can appreciate its unique heritage, architecture and culture rather than sex and drugs,” CNN reported at the time. Over the past few years, there have been multiple initiatives to reduce the impact of mass tourism and nuisance visitors, and to revamp the area’s image.
In 2020, guided tours were prohibited from passing sex workers’ windows, and there was talk of moving the window brothels to a neighborhood outside of the city center—conversations that continue to this day.”
A new ordinance banning cannabis use on the streets in Amsterdam’s Red Light District is slated to take effect later this month.
The ban, officially approved by Amsterdam’s city council last week, will “come into effect from May 25 and will be enforced by police and local officials,” according to Bloomberg, which noted that violation of the new law will result in a €100 (or $109) fine.
The law was offered up by the Amsterdam city council in February, with local officials decrying the “nuisance” and “grim” atmosphere of the famous district at night.
“Residents of the old town suffer a lot from mass tourism and alcohol and drug abuse in the streets. Tourists also attract street dealers who in turn cause crime and insecurity. The atmosphere can get grim especially at night. People who are under the influence hang around for a long time. Residents cannot sleep well and the neighborhood becomes unsafe and unlivable,” the city council said in a statement at the time.
“A smoking ban on the street should reduce nuisance. We are also looking at a pick-up ban at certain times for soft drugs. If the nuisance does not decrease enough, we will investigate whether we can ban smoking on terraces at coffee shops,” the council continued.
CNN reported at the time that if the outdoor smoking ban failed to achieve the desired results, the “municipality said it would also consider banning take-out purchases of soft drugs at certain times, and banning smoking marijuana at coffee shops’ outdoor seating areas.”
“It is estimated that about 10% to 15% of Amsterdam’s tourist industry is based in the red light district,” according to CNN. “City officials want the De Wallen neighborhood, as the district is known in Dutch, to draw visitors who can appreciate its unique heritage, architecture and culture rather than sex and drugs. Over the past few years, there have been multiple initiatives to reduce the impact of mass tourism and nuisance visitors, and to revamp the area’s image.
In 2020, guided tours were prohibited from passing sex workers’ windows, and there was talk of moving the window brothels to a neighborhood outside of the city center—conversations that continue to this day.”
Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema has prioritized cleaning up the Red Light District since becoming mayor nearly five years ago.
In 2019, Halsema, who is Amsterdam’s first female mayor, “presented four options aimed at protecting sex workers from degrading conditions, tackling crime, and reducing the impact of tourism in Amsterdam’s De Wallen red-light district,” CNN reported at the time.
“For many visitors, the sex workers have become no more than an attraction to look at. In some cases this is accompanied by disruptive behavior and a disrespectful attitude to the sex workers in the windows,” Halsema’s office said, as quoted by CNN, which outlined some of the mayor’s proposed reforms:
“Four scenarios have been proposed for discussion including closing the curtains on the windows so sex workers can’t be seen from the street, fewer window-style rooms, moving the brothels to new locations elsewhere in Amsterdam and the possibility of a sex worker “hotel” being created. The plans aim to protect sex workers from gawking tourists and their camera phones, and also to combat a rise in abuses such as human trafficking. The four proposals will be discussed with sex workers, residents and businesses in July, before being taken to the city council in September. The plans will ultimately be developed into a new policy on sex work, the mayor’s office confirmed.”
Since my early youth I had dreamed of becoming a writer and plant scientist. However, during high school and college I was drawn to other matters and studied in a totally different area. Somehow, my natural inclinations broke through. My work as a writer for HIGH TIMES has helped me live a fantasy. I have visited gardens and farms on five continents, and been given the opportunity to experience some interesting, unusual and even extraordinary places.
India
I visited India in the fall and winter of 1979, when marijuana was still legal there. It was taxed by the government and sold in shops. While traveling on a train through the centrally located state of Madya Pradesh, I noticed fields of ganja. I received permission from authorities in Bhiratpur, the state capital, to visit the fields, located in Khandwa. I arrived in mid-December, just in time for the harvest.
The plants were late-maturing sativas, eight to 10 feet high. I saw several 5 to 10-acre fields. They were all seeded and ripe. They were cut down by hand with machetes, and were brought to the preparation area by animal-drawn cart. Then a circle of women stripped them of all leaf and bud.
During the day the plants were left to dry in piles about 8″ high. At night the piles were covered with large stones. The next day buds were pulled out of the pile. The leaves had desiccated and the buds were tighter. These buds were placed in a pile and again selected the next morning. Within three days the buds turned from green to brown as a result of anaerobic decomposition. All the leaves crumbled and most of the outside glands had rubbed off. Inside some of the THC had degraded to cannibinol. There was a purpose to this. These buds were tight and held the THC that was left inside. Uncured bud, such as what we had collected, could not be shipped easily and would be shake by the time it got to market.
Our hosts were very gracious. My companion and I were allowed to pick some choice buds, which dried quickly in the oppressive heat. This uncured bud was some of the best weed we encountered on our trip; perhaps some of the best ganja in that part of the country.
One morning, while we were staying at the government-run “Circuit House,” we heard a knock at the door and the knob turned. One of the taxmen, a government agent, walked in to give us a big handful of ganja. This was the first and last time that a G-man ever invaded my premises to give me cannabis.
This story is now history. Marijuana was outlawed in India in 1986, as required by the Single Convention on Drugs and Narcotic Substances.
A Tale of Two Gardens
In 1989 I followed two growers in a seven-part series. Sharky was a commercial grower with quite a few lamps, while Liz grew in a 4’ x 4’ space in her closet using a single 400 or 1,000-watt high-pressure sodium unit. The articles followed their entire operations from cloning to harvest, including changes they made over a 10-month period.
Sharky used rockwool slabs irrigated with a drip system. He used General Hydroponics liquid fertilizers and irrigated once every other day or daily depending on the moisture in the slabs. Liz used a reservoir system with lava chips about 3/4″ long. The 6″ wide containers sat in a tray 5″ high. The tray was filled to a level of about 3″ with water-nutrient solution. She used a small aquarium heater and an air-pump bubbler to keep the water aerated. She originally used Applied Hydro fertilizers.
Both gardens achieved about the same yield, a little more than one pound per 1,000-watt lamp.
Australia
I was invited to the Nimbin, (New South Wales) Australia Mardi Gras Festival held in early May, the end of the fall harvest. The event was a wild affair and media event. This festival is the highlight of the year in the small but very sophisticated town, which has several good restaurants and quite a cultural life, mostly homemade. This is very exciting because so many of the people are in the arts.
Nimbin was a dairy town, all but abandoned until a Woodstock-like celebration took place nearby in the early 70s. Some of the hippies never left and slowly revitalized the community as a hippie haven.
Afterwards, I went to visit several gardens. All of them were unusual. One garden consisted of a single bushy plant about 17 feet tall. It was growing next to a gas water heater and received enriched air. Its roots were in manure-enriched soil. Another garden featured a “portable” metal building that rolled on a track. When the law flew overhead the building covered the plants. Other times the plants were in full sun.
The most exciting part of the trip was my visit to a series of patches going downhill through a national wilderness park. The gardener chose places so remote that he reasoned it just wasn’t worth it for the police to seize the plots. Each plot contained 10-20 plants growing in partial sun. The varieties had a lot of Thai and Dutch genetics. I was enticed on the trip with his comforting words that it was “almost all downhill.” I forgot to ask. “How steep?”
Holland
I have been reporting on Holland since the mid-’80s. This included stories on the first Cannabis Cup, the coffeeshops, the Seed Bank. Wernard, greenhouse harvests and many other gardens. Over the years I reported as the industry started, grew, matured and finally now has been repressed by the Dutch government.
Recent taws have changed the lax attitude there. All cultivation under lights is now considered commercial. Ironic, since it’s nearly impossible to grow potent pot outdoors in the cool, overcast country. Growers are subject to four years in prison. Seed production is now illegal. I hope the government doesn’t think of forfeiture.
Hemp
I investigated the hemp scene in Hungary in 1991 and 1993, and English hemp just after that. Soon after, Holland’s Ben Dronkers started Hemp-Flax and extended initial research from the Ede-Wagonen Research Center to the fields. It was exciting watching the rebirth of the industry.
Visiting the Hungarian fields and factories was like stepping back 50 years. The fields were cultivated with ancient machines and the factories were dusty and unhealthy, with inefficient and dangerous prewar machinery. Hempcore, which was started by a farm-supply company, was the first to restart the industry in England. The Dutch industry started at Ede-Wagonen, the experimental station. Even though the industry looked promising, few farmers were interested in it. Ben Dronkers, proprietor of Sensi-Seed and other grass-centered enterprises has invested heavily, gambling on the paper potential of the new industry.
For years, Amsterdam has been known as the cannabis capital of the world. The place that first allowed for mother nature’s green plant to have a home, without strict limitations. The city that first founded a genuine and flourishing weed market. However, whilst this reputation may bring with it popularity and riches, it is not always the sort of tourism that the Netherlands desire.
In fact, in recent years, government officials have aimed to stop drug tourism altogether. Although it’s unlikely that the country would completely end their ability to make money from a booming cannabis market, it is possible that things may be about to change in Holland’s capital. So, is Amsterdam really cleaning up their image? Let’s find out more.
Holland’s History
The Netherlands – also known as Holland – is a nation in the Northwestern part of Europe. It has a population of just over 17 million, with a total area of 40km and a coastline of 451km. This makes the Netherlands the 22nd smallest country in Europe or the 135th in the world. However, their size does not take away from their global power. They actually have the 15th largest economy in the world. This is much to do with their ports, allowing them to have naval access to most of the world by sea. It was reported this year that 34 billion euros was added to their exports due to their brilliant ports. It is these ports that also allowed Holland to build an empire a few centuries ago. These relationships with other nations seemed to have allowed the Netherlands to become open to new things.
Historically, the Netherlands has always been an open nation in a great deal of ways. In the second world war, 500,000 people had to flee the country due to German occupation. But today, the Netherlands is one of the most populated countries. Whilst they may now have an ageing nation – with a high percentage over the age of 60 – their youth culture has ensured the continuation of open mindedness. In the 17th century, the Netherlands rejected their own monarchy from taking control. This mindset has also led to a relaxed and alternative view on major social issues. Brittanica writes:
“Amsterdam has remained one of the liveliest centres of international youth culture. There, perhaps more than anywhere else in the country, the Dutch tradition of social tolerance is readily encountered. Prostitution, “soft-drug” (marijuana and hashish) use, and euthanasia are all legal but carefully regulated in the Netherlands, which was also the first country to legalize same-sex marriage.”
The Netherlands – especially including cities like Utrecht and Amsterdam – often rank in the top 10 of best places to live in the world. This is mainly due to the laidback lifestyle, the beautiful architecture, canals and incredible amount of bikes. Cars take the backseat in Holland, bikes are the priority. In fact, there are 22.9 million bicycles in the Netherlands, which ranks them number one in the world by quite a way.
So as you can imagine, with the Netherlands being such a sought after place, it does have a great deal of tourism. Each year, the capital – Amsterdam – receives around 18 million visitors. Some come to see the museums – such as Anne Frank’s house, some come to cycle around its endless beautiful canals, and many come to take advantage of the nation’s laidback view on cannabis. It has not gone unnoticed that Amsterdam, for many years, was practically the only country in Europe where you could legally get cannabis and magic truffles. In fact, even now, despite Luxembourg and Malta legalizing the substance, it is still the only working cannabis market available.
Amsterdam has 160 coffeeshops, where tourists and locals can purchase a wide range of cannabis products. They also have a bunch of smart shops where buyers can get their hands on magic truffles – essentially a legal version of magic mushrooms that still contain psilocybin. The Netherlands make around 400 million euros a year from coffee shop tax, highlighting the genuine importance that the cannabis market has on their economy.
Sex Work
Sex work is also legal in Amsterdam, of course only if it is occurring between two consenting adults. Whilst it may seem like a safer way for sex workers to make their money, there have been countless incidents of tourists taking advantage of the ease of access. Many in the Netherlands still debate whether the red light district should exist, with it acting like a tourist attraction.
Whilst these people agree that sex work is better happening legally and regulated instead of hidden and dangerous, having a beacon of red light attracting horny punters toward De Wallen is not perhaps the best way to go. Nonetheless, as with the coffeeshops, many tourists come to Amsterdam to visit this place. Many are wasted and may stupidly take photos as if they’re at some sort of zoo. It’s no wonder that Amsterdam officials are wanting to change things.
Cleaning Up Their Image
The Netherlands show a tolerance to a lot of things, which in turn makes it a very progressive nation. However, with the rest of Europe not doing the same, this has meant that many travel to Holland in order to experience a taste of this tolerant life. Rather than respecting it, many tourists come and act abominably. The Mayor of Amsterdam has decided that she will make it her aim to change the way the city works. She fears that many locals have moved out of the centre due to disruptive tourism. She says:
“People come to Amsterdam because of the tolerance but show behaviour we cannot tolerate, behaviour we should call immoral, that they wouldn’t show at home… They come to Amsterdam, they drink too much, they get stoned, do not reserve a hotel but stay out all night, they humiliate the sex workers, and they make a lot of noise… So for the people living in the inner city, it’s not liveable any more.”
After the 2008 economic crisis, Amsterdam made it their aim to desperately increase tourism. However, according to the mayor, they sold themselves short. This has led to an influx of unwanted tourism, with people coming and doing more harm than good.
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Cannabis Market
The Mayor’s aim – which was rejected in October of this year – is to create the ‘inhabitants criterium’. This would essentially ban cannabis being available to anyone who does not live in the city. The expat community, including international students, would still be able to access cannabis – but it would stop tourists from coming over a weekend with the main goal of getting stoned and causing havoc on the streets of Amsterdam. The issue is that she does not yet have enough support to cause this change. As is stated earlier, there is a great deal of money in cannabis tourism.
Sex Work
The mayor also wants to relocate 100 red light district brothels to a nice location elsewhere in the city. This would be an erotic centre, where sex workers would feel safe to do their work in peace and without harassment. There used to be a romantic aura to the red light district, she admits, where anyone who showed any signs of aggression would be pushed out on the streets. However with the competition that now exists, and amount of tourism, it has become more like an unsafe sex arcade – accessible to anyone. Most people don’t come to even have sexual intercourse, many simply come to grope. Her first suggestion of 8 locations for a new erotic center were rejected, but she hopes to suggest 3 more potentials in December.
Will these Plans Happen?
It is evident that for several years now the mayor of Amsterdam – along with others – have been trying to clean up the image of the capital. Their reasons for wanting this, as you can see, are completely reasonable. Much of Europe, but mostly Britain, have taken advantage of the Netherland’s tolerance for too long. You only have to walk around the center of Amsterdam for a few minutes before you see the unpleasant effects that certain tourists have caused.
However, the issue is that money often wins. So much tourism comes from this open and free aesthetic that Amsterdam has created, and unfortunately there is financial gain to be had by keeping things as they are. Nonetheless, support is rising, and it looks as if something will change in the next few years. It may not be as drastic as the mayor wants, but there is definitely a problem. If any nation in Europe has the courage to go against the grain, it’s the Netherlands. Watch this space.
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If the quandaries of figuring out how to legally certify a cannabis market in both the U.S. and Canada have been filled with drama, the issues in Europe are going to be hardly less daunting.
In Germany right now, the entire debate is essentially being put in deep freeze with various excuses, including the ongoing pandemic, if not the war in Ukraine, despite the ongoing chatter about its inevitability.
Right across the Schengen border, the Dutch, the inventors of the eponymous coffeeshop, are now going through their own “growing” pains when it comes to creating a legal, certified, national market.
How Holland Is Trying To Certify Its National Industry
The coffeeshops that operate in the largest cities will still have their own uncertified cultivation. However, with the exception of these stores, the Dutch government established a national cultivation bid to supply ten cities with regulated cannabis. This is a trial program, which will also be studied to see how this entire idea works as well as its impact on the general population — including its ability to keep cannabis out of the hands of children and teenagers.
The trial is expected to kick off next year. At that point, the cannabis grown under the trial will be shipped to these establishments and every coffeeshop that is located in a municipality which is participating will be obligated to buy their cannabis from the government-certified program. If they do not, they will lose their permit. This does not mean that the coffeeshops will be limited to just one cultivator.
Ten growers, who won the right to participate in a cultivation bid, will supply this market — although at this point there are only seven who have qualified to do so. Growers must prove that they do not have a “criminal” past, and that they can secure their cultivation facilities.
The standardization of the weed biz however does not make the owners of coffeeshops in these locations very enthusiastic. Many people doubt that the cannabis they will get from these cultivators is up to the quality that they previously produced — and will almost certainly limit the selection of the cannabis on offer.
That issue has not been taken into consideration by the government. When the trial begins, coffeeshops in these municipalities will only have six weeks to sell through the self-cultivated cannabis they might have. Then they will be required to purchase from the government program.
Many shop owners wish that they were given more choice. Indeed, many are suggesting that there is a voluntary opt in rather than a mandatory requirement.
The Dutch government, however, is not giving them that option.
For that reason, many coffeeshops fear that they will then lose customers to the existing black market.
Growing Pains
The Dutch government initiated a national trial program to attempt to control the entire supply chain of cannabis for recreational purposes in late 2019. Since then, a legal tender was created to select the cultivators allowed to grow such cannabis.
The trial program is intended to last for four years.
The process has been, rather predictably, frustrated with multiple delays including NIMBY protests from municipalities who objected to such cultivation taking place in their districts and even a slap suit by a large Canadian producer.
During the experiment, researchers will monitor the entire process. Based on the results of the trial, the government will then decide how to effectively implement policy for the long term.
Presently Dutch coffeeshops grow their own cannabis, and as a result, the entire process exists in a grey area of the law. This will not come to an end once the national trial starts. Establishments in the larger cities will still grow their own.
This trial is also set against a backdrop of increasing pressure on the existing coffeeshops, which includes perennial threats from government authorities to ban tourists from being able to drop into such establishments.
Will Other European Countries Follow the Dutch?
There is a great deal of attention on how the Dutch trial will proceed outside of Holland. This is particularly true in Germany which is now wrestling with how to make its own recreational system function. While Germany is not likely to allow establishments like coffeeshops to operate, at least at first, they are likely to set up a similar system of controlled cultivation — if they do not mandate that the original three medical growers are the initial providers of the same.
Regardless, it is clear that Europe is on the cusp of finally coming to terms with the fact that cannabis is not going to disappear.
Now the question is how to create a regulated, legal market that can protect consumers and bring in much needed tax income.
The Dutch, as usual, are in the forefront of this discussion.
There is a very funny thing about the European cannabis discussion right now, particularly as the news of the German decision to proceed with recreational reform has emerged with the formal creation of the next coalition government. Namely that promising reform while entering power is fairly popular, if not an inevitable development at this point, nobody really wants to go first.
That honor, so far, within Europe (beyond Holland) will almost certainly go to the Swiss, who are powering forward with the nitty gritty details required to create a new market as of next year. However, Switzerland is famously not in the European Union. And within such countries, no politician, at least until the German decision to proceed with recreational, has quite known how to frame such forward progress in formal statutes.
That reality has been made even more clear during the last week as Luxembourg’s government, which promised as part of its platform in 2018 that it would legalize recreational use by 2023, has just taken a rather large sidestep. Namely, the country’s first foray into this discussion will be in fact just to allow adults the right to self-cultivate four plants.
For all the hullabaloo, in other words, this is a dramatic twist if not anti-climatic development in a situation now fraught with the inevitability of reform (even if not in Luxembourg first).
Luxembourg: The First Baby Steps
What is so ironic about all of this is the fact that for the past three years, officials in Luxembourg have made it very public that they were “studying” the Canadian model. What has developed is actually far more like the Dutch (at least so far) if not the evolving situation in other European countries (see Malta, which allowed home-grow this year and appears to be actually on the verge of greater reform by the end of the year, not to mention Italy, which appears to be backing into the same thing).
This is what the government is prepared to regulate: the seed market. Plants grown in private homes, away from sight and out of reach of minors, will have to be grown from either seeds purchased domestically (in either brick-and-mortar establishments or online), or even from abroad (see Holland, for starters).
In the meantime, there will be a plan produced for the national production of seeds for commercial uses. This presumably is the next step the Luxembourgians see the market evolving into as Germany now presumably takes the lead on setting policies that will probably be copied across Europe.
The legislation also proposes decriminalizing the possession of up to three grams of flower if caught in public, with perpetrators punished with a fine that is like those for tobacco transgressions.
Of course, this development is also a bit more than a face-saving move. The country is moving, even if slowly, towards full cannabis reform. In the meantime, Luxembourg will be creating a longer-term infrastructure for a commercial market to begin. Not to mention offsetting the huge outlay of government funds for medical cannabis, which as of this year was going for 100 euros a gram (wholesale).
What Is Likely to Happen
While this is pure conjecture at this point, the interesting thing about the Luxembourgian development is that it may end up being very much like a mix of the Swiss and German markets. The Swiss made the sale of CBD plants legal, which in turn set off a cottage industry post 2017, which in turn has clearly created a basis for the recreational market now set to launch in the first half of 2022.
The Swiss also appear to be creating, deliberately, a domestic market for the sourcing of all cannabis for this new domestic market. Indeed, all cannabis bound for this national trial must be sourced within Switzerland’s borders.
It is very likely that the market in Luxembourg will eventually be similar. This way, it also keeps the discussion about the cannabis tourist trade in limbo, at least until someone else beyond the Dutch addresses it. Indeed, there is a lingering stigma in Holland about pot tourism that continues to rear its head in Luxembourg too, even as this is also an obvious way to repair COVID-induced damage to this sector of every European economy right now.
No matter what, however, it is clear that no country’s politicians in Europe, particularly if they come to power with a pro-cannabis plank, can entirely duck the conversation.
Luxembourg, however, is not going to be “first” within the EU, much less Europe. That distinction, as of the recent news revealed, will almost certainly be the Swiss and the Germans.
The first attempt to federally regulate the cultivation of recreational cannabis in Holland goes down in flames over lack of coordination and faults at the federal level, along with local NIMBYism.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread, with the death toll and reported cases rising each day, quarantines and impeding restrictions have sent consumers rushing to stores to stock up and panic-buy everything from antiseptic wipes to toilet paper to meat, and now cannabis. While the viral videos of shoppers going rockem socket for Purex […]
