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.”
NWA may have mentioned something about not getting high on your own supply in the song Dopeman, but when you’re the chief creative officer (CCO) of Red Light Holland, a brand of magic truffles, all late ’80s rap song advice goes out the window.
Red Light Holland is an Ontario, Canada-based psilocybin truffle company that produces and sells magic truffles on the Dutch market. While the Netherlands banned the sale of hallucinogenic mushrooms in 2007, many smartshops still sell magic truffles. Both contain the active psychedelic component, psilocybin, but grow differently. Magic truffles grow underground, and mushrooms grow above ground.
When CEO and former broadcaster Todd Shapiro started Red Light Holland, he assembled a knowledgeable team. This included a wild card, his comedy veteran friend Russell Peters. When he joined the team, Peters had not tried microdosing with psilocybin truffles before. Apparently, instead of partaking in psychedelics, Russell was busy putting out comedy specials, touring his punchy observational stand-up worldwide, acting, and winning countless awards like a Peabody and an International Emmy for the documentary series Hip-Hop Evolution, which he co-produced, and was named Canadian Comedy Person of the Year. No biggie. When Peters stepped into his role at Red Light Holland as CCO, he soon realized there was no time like the present and became a client of the psychedelic experience.
Courtesy High Times
High Times: How did you and Todd hook up for Red Light Holland?
Russell Peters: Todd Shapiro is a friend that I’ve known for a while from when he did radio. I’d do radio with him when I could, and we just kept in touch. He asked if I wanted to get involved, and I told him I didn’t know much about it all. I really never looked into it because I had never done it. He told me that’s why he wanted to get me involved and that I could use my creative mind with the marketing. It sounded exciting and interesting, so I wanted to learn more. It was as simple as that.
What made you want to try magic truffles for the first time at this stage in your life?
Being thatI’m the CCO of Red Light Holland and people had been asking me so many questions about the product that I had no answers to, I felt like a fraud and didn’t want to be the guy like, “Oh yeah, this is great,” without being able to back it up. It seemed a little “money grab-ish” to me, and I don’t like how that looks, sounds, or seems. I needed to make sure I knew what the fuck I was talking about. I still don’t claim to be an expert, having only done it once. At least I can say I tried it, I enjoyed it, and I’m willing to do it again. We’re placed in Amsterdam, so you can get our stuff there. It’s really starting to move, and I’m hoping more people get on board!
Did you go into it looking to get something specific from it?
It’s funny because I expected way more. Eddie (assistant/tour manager) did it with me, and he got way more out of it even though we did the same amount. For me, I knew I was high, but it’s a strange thing because you’re aware that you’re high. Like, “Oh! I’m high!” It’s not like a goofy thing though, where you are like, “Hey dude! I’m so high.” More so like, “I’m high and none of this is real.” It was wild. I’m not much of a smoker or drinker, and this was the first time I tried something other than weed, so I think I was expecting all of these crazy things to happen. I did giggle a lot.
Photo by Eddie Valdez
For newbies who want to giggle too, would you say being monitored is the way to go when you try microdosing for the first time?
I think a monitored experience would be a really smart way to start. At least that’s what I did. I did mine, for lack of better terms, with a shaman when I was in Amsterdam. We used Red Light Holland products, and he gave me fresh truffles that were literally picked that morning. Truffles grow underground, and throughout Holland, cultivation is legal because you can control the product’s growing process. (Europe is bound by a “single market act,” and there is no specific order against psychedelic truffles, making sale, transportation, and possession legal.) For whatever reasons, they make their reasonings. The earth grew it, but we’re telling you no! Anyway, Eddie and I both mashed up our own truffles, we poured this portobello mushroom broth he made over it, and then we drank it. It was like eating a really good mushroom soup.
Sounds like a nice start. How’d your trip go from there? Any stand-out moments?
I’ve always been highly self-aware, and when I did my trip, there was one part where I saw myself dead. But it wasn’t a scary thing or an epiphany or anything. It was just like I was floating above and below I could see all of my friends and family crying and upset. Then I see me dead, but I don’t actually see my face. I just knew it was me. Same thing with my family and friends; I couldn’t see their faces. The one face I could see, which I thought was a little trippy, was Crazy Legs from Rock Steady Crew. Crazy Legs and I are very good friends now, but when I was a kid, I completely idolized him. I had posters on my wall, and to me, he optimized what cool was because I was a break dancer. So here we are, 40-something years later, and we’re friends. It’s a bizarre thing. Anyway, I see myself dead and Crazy Legs is running away from my body trying to get someone to help me. As I’m floating away, I’m like, “What are you doing? I’m already dead! Stop crying. It’s not that bad! I’m OK!”
Do you think your subconscious was telling you that you’ve accomplished some cool shit and if you should die, your family will be taken care of by Crazy Legs?
Yeah, right? The shaman said, “You seem very comfortable with death.” I’m like, yeah, it doesn’t bother me. I’m laughing like, see you guys later! It was pretty wild. I had a great trip. I really did have a good time.
OK, so your truffle experience was awesome, yet milder than what you imagined. What was your expectation the first time you smoked weed versus how it really went down?
The first time I smoked weed was in the mid-’90s. I thought, “Oh man! I’m going to smoke some weed and see all of these little green men, and it’s going to be wild and holy shit!” I remember taking a drag off of my friend’s joint outside of a restaurant, and all I did was cough. I was like, “Well, this sucks,” and I went home. I didn’t realize I was high when I went home. I put on the TV and stared at it for many hours. When I snapped out of it, I realized that I had been watching a commercial for Dr. Ho’s Muscle Massager. I watched an infomercial for like three hours!
Photo by Eddie Valdez
Did you eat anything while watching TV high and not knowing it for three hours?
No, but another time, maybe three years ago, Raekwon was hanging out at my house. He was like, “Yo Russ, I need to go to the studio with the Game. You wanna come?” I’m like, “Yeah, I’ll go!” I get there, and Raekwon and Game are in the studio, but there are all of these other people hanging out in there too, and the room was fucking thick with smoke. I got hotboxed but didn’t realize it because I was just sitting there. Then Raekwon gets in the booth, and I have this moment where it’s like, you forget they’re legendary because they become a normal person to you. Then they go and do what makes them legendary, and you’re like, “Oh shit! That’s Raekwon from Wu-Tang Clan!”
Please tell me that you were so high that you asked to spit a couple of bars.
Yeah, no. But I thought about it! What happened is that he finished, came and sat down, I told him how dope it was, and then I had to go to the bathroom. As I’m walking down the hall, I see this catering room with three pizzas there. I ate all three fucking pizzas. I just stood there eating it like, “Is this the best pizza I have ever had in my life?” Then I realized after, “Holy shit, I’m high!” People started coming out of the studio, and I’m like, “Oh fuck, I need to hide these boxes!”
I can’t wait for Game and Raekwon to read this article because, of course, they will and then send you a pizza bill.
Worth it. It was really great pizza. Or I was accidentally high.
The UMC Utrecht Brain Center, in collaboration with various organizations in the Netherlands, will receive about $1.5 million (€1.4 million) from the Dutch government. Bedrocan announced the study on March 20. Previous research shows that CBD reduced seizures in children with specific epilepsy-related syndromes.
U.K.-based Cannabis Health Newsreports that via the government’s or ZonMW’s Good Use of Medicines program, researchers will use the money and launch a four-year research project delving into the effects of high-CBD oil in children living with severe epilepsy.
Researchers will administer whole-plant high-CBD oil, Bedrolite from the Dutch Transvaal pharmacy, which is made using cannabis produced by Bedrocan. Fifty participants will join the trial which is planned to kick off in the summer. The first patients are expected to begin by the end of the year.
Researchers will study if the oil is effective in reducing frequency of seizures. They’ll also monitor other “quality of life markers” such as seizure length, sleep, and alertness. Patients must not have previously used CBD oil for the treatment of epilepsy and/or seizures and must have a minimum of eight seizures or more every four weeks.
“Our research focuses on the individual. Instead of looking at a group, we look at whether the drug is effective per patient,” said lead researcher, Floor Jansen, who is a pediatric neurologist. “We want to investigate whether the number of attacks decreases, but we also pay attention to other important outcomes for a patient. Think of less use of emergency medication against prolonged attacks, a change in alertness or a better night’s sleep.”
Rare, intractable forms of epilepsy have not been studied well enough. Researchers will look at individual cases instead of looking at a group as a whole in order to determine whether the drug is effective for each patient.
Intractable Epilepsy is a charity that raises funding to assist families pay for private cannabis prescriptions. Jo Griffiths, chair of Intractable Epilepsy said she would like to see the U.K. match the €1.4 million for randomized control trials (RCTs) on Bedrocan products.
“Intractable Epilepsy supports families with private medicinal cannabis costs, once it has been prescribed for at least six months,” Griffiths said. “But some families cannot even afford a private consultation. To help every child and young adult with intractable epilepsy access full-extract medicinal cannabis, the government and health providers are saying gold standard RCTs are needed. Therefore, we are calling on the U.K. government to match the Dutch government’s €1.4 million towards trials, and to run an NHS trial using the same oils.”
“The NHS has prescribed the very same oils to two children in the U.K. over the past four years, while others pay privately and some families are looking to the unregulated black market,” she said.
Alongside RCTs, Intractable Epilepsy is seeking an observational study to examine the effects of whole-plant cannabis oils on people who have already found success with the compound.
“Alongside a UK RCT, we would like to see the observational trial recommended by the Health Select Committee in 2019, for those already taking full-extract oils,” she added.
“It would be prudent of the government and the NHS to take part in these trials to build the evidence base that over 50 children have proven over the last four years.”
The study will launch this summer, and the first patients are expected to be treated by the end of 2023.
The government of the Netherlands will launch a cannabis pilot program with the goal of full-scale legalization. Wait, you might ask, doesn’t the country with Amsterdam cafes already have legal cannabis? Technically, no. Not legal, like in Canada or Uruguay. The Dutch decriminalized cannabis in 1972, making possessing an ounce or less a misdemeanour. By 1976, “coffeeshops” were all the rage. The official policy is one of tolerance. So while it is still technically illegal to buy, sell, or produce […]
For many tourists, Amsterdam’s red light district has long been a destination to escape the laws and restrictions of their normal lives, a place where anything goes. But the people who live there, it seems, are ready to chill out.
Amsterdam’s city council said last Thursday that it will ban cannabis use on the streets of the red light district, citing the “nuisance” and “grim” atmosphere that typifies the area in the evening hours.
The officials said that they intend for the rule to take effect in mid-May.
“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 council said in a statement on Thursday.
“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.
As Reuters noted, the move is “part of a campaign by Amsterdam’s first female mayor, Femke Halsema, to make the neighbourhood more liveable for residents.”
According to CNN, “there have been multiple initiatives to reduce the impact of mass tourism and nuisance visitors, and to revamp the area’s image” in recent years, including a rule that prohibited guided tours from passing by sex workers’ windows.
Since she became mayor of the Dutch capital in 2018, Halsema has made reform of the city’s red light district a priority.
In 2019, Halsema 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, which included “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.”
“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,” the mayor’s office said in a statement at the time, as quoted by CNN.
In addition to the proposed smoking ban announced on Thursday the Amsterdam city council said that one “of the measures that has already been decided on is to have catering establishments and sex establishments with a catering license close their doors at 02:00 on Fridays and Saturdays,” as opposed to the current closing time of 3 or 4 a.m.
“Prostitution businesses may then remain open until 3 a.m. Now it is until 6:00 a.m.,” the council said. “To spread the crowds better, no new visitors are allowed in after 1:00 a.m. We also want to close the terraces at 1:00 a.m. in the summer months. That is now 2:00 a.m.”
The council also said that the sale of alcohol by shops, liquor stores and cafeterias will continue to be prohibited “from Thursday to Sunday from 4 p.m.”
According to CNN, it is “estimated that about 10% to 15% of Amsterdam’s tourist industry is based in the red light district,” which the Dutch commonly refer to as the De Wallen neighborhood.
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.
Thank you for making your way over. Remember to sign up for the Cannadelics Weekly Newsletter for updates direct to your email; and to access deals on stuff like cannabis flowers, vapes, edibles, smoking devices, cannabinoid compounds (like HHC), and way more. Tis the season to get good and stoned. Responsibly.
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.
Welcome all! Thanks for joining us today at Cannadelics.com; a news site where we work hard to bring you the best reporting from the cannabis and psychedelics spaces. Drop by regularly to stay updated on everything going down, and subscribe to the Cannadelics Weekly Newsletter, so you’re never late to get the news.
Spanning across six countries in Europe and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Europol and multiple law enforcement agencies launched Operation Desert Light and took down one of the world’s largest suppliers of cocaine.
According to a press release, Europol, the European Union’s law enforcement agency, took out a 49-person “super cartel” and confiscated over 30 tons of drugs amid Operation Desert Light. Police say the cartel was headed by six main drug lords—the only ones considered “high-value targets”—in Dubai, with 43 lower-level henchmen.
“A total of 49 suspects have been arrested during the course of this investigation,” Europol stated. “The drugpins considered as high-value targets by Europol had come together to form what was known as a ‘super cartel’ which controlled around one third of the cocaine trade in Europe.”
Europol posted a YouTube video showing police agents and dogs searching homes filled with luxury sports cars, pools, and piles of unopened iPhones.
Nearly every drug enforcement agency around was called in: The massive operation enlisted Spain’s Guardia Civil; France’s Police Nationale; Belgium’s Federal Judicial Police Brussels and Federal Judicial Police Antwerp; the Netherlands’ National Police National Criminal Investigations Division and Police Unit Rotterdam; United Arab Emirates’ Ministry of Interior and Dubai Police Force; and the DEA from the United States.
“These arrests are the culmination of parallel investigations run in Spain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and the UAE with the support of Europol into the activities of this prolific criminal network involved in large-scale drugs trafficking and money laundering.”
“The scale of cocaine importation into Europe under the suspects’ control and command was massive and over 30 tonnes of drugs were seized by law enforcement over the course of the investigations.”
Vicereports that a Dutch-Bosnian trafficker Edin Gacanin, 40, aka “Tito” is allegedly one of the 50 largest cocaine traffickers in Europe, according to a leaked DEA report. Tito was a “big fish” suspected drug kingpin, with alleged links to high-profile Dutch crime boss Ridouan Taghi, who was also arrested in Dubai in 2019, and is currently on trial. Zouhair Lamchachti, 39, aka “Beertje”, who is both Dutch and Moroccan, was also arrested as a high value target.
The operation requires a bit of coordination: Last September, Europol and the Ministry of Interior of the United Arab Emirates joined forces. They signed a Liaison Officer Agreement, thus allowing UAE law enforcement liaison officers to be deployed to Europol’s headquarters in the Netherlands, the report explains.
Europol said they’ve been planning to take down the super cartel for two years.
In Europe, data shows that during the past 10 years, access to cocaine in Europe is increasing yearly, according to The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction’s European Drug Report. “Overall, indicators suggest that the availability and use of cocaine in Europe remains high by historical standards,” analysts wrote. “In 2020, a record high of 213 tonnes of cocaine was seized. Increases in the number of cocaine laboratories dismantled in 2020, seizures of raw materials imported from South America and associated chemicals, together indicate large-scale cocaine processing in Europe.”
Cocaine is a problem in the U.S. as well, especially when it involves corrupt law enforcement. An off-duty Pentagon police officer was arrested last month with at least 2.5 kilos of cocaine. In that case, the Arlington County Police Department charged the officer with two counts of Possession with Intent to Distribute Controlled Substance, and Possession with Intent to Distribute Controlled Substance while Armed.
Read Europol’s announcement for more details about the police approach to Operation Desert Light.
Fed up with party companies renting out tanks of nitrous oxide and providing balloons and other equipment, leaders in The Netherlands are taking action.
The high provided by nitrous oxide—aka laughing gas or whip-its—will no longer be tolerated in The Netherlands under a bill proposed recently. Until recently, Dutch party hosts could call up a laughing gas company and rent equipment as if it were renting a photo booth.
In a November 14 briefing to MPs, Dutch Health Minister Bruno Bruins is leading a bill that would compel retailers and wholesalers to invoke a voluntary age limit for the sale of nitrous oxide canisters (whip-its), and to limit the number of canisters people can buy.
“The recreational use of laughing gas leads to enormous health risks,” State Secretary Van Ooijen (VWS) said in the briefing, translated on Google. “In addition, the safety of non-users is also at stake. We have seen enough reports in the news that terrible accidents have happened due to road users using laughing gas. In recent years, there has been a call from society to ban the recreational use of laughing gas. I am pleased that we can bring this ban into effect from January 1, 2023.”
“The nitrous oxide ban helps the police enormously in enforcement. With the ban, having nitrous oxide with you—possession—in itself becomes a criminal offense,” said Minister Yeşilgöz-Zegerius (JenV), as translated from Google. “This allows the police to act sooner. Now that is only possible when someone uses laughing gas and causes nuisance or dangerous situations in traffic. With the ban, the police will soon be able to take immediate action if someone possesses non-professional laughing gas and has balloons with gas bottles in the car. Hopefully we can prevent accidents this way.”
But leaders hope the move will make roads in The Netherlands safer. According to road safety monitor TeamAlert, laughing gas has played a role in 1,800 accidents across The Netherlands over the past three years. “Almost two a day, figures that really shocked us,” Maartje Oosterink of TeamAlert toldAD newspaper earlier this month.
The dangers are legitimate for the ignorant. Unlike weed, too much nitrous oxide can actually kill you.
People who use nitrous oxide intended for technical purposes and intended as a food additive are exempt from the ban. However, the purchase, sale, possession, and handing of nitrous oxide in gas cylinders to private individuals will be prohibited beginning on January 1, 2023.
Manufacturers and wholesalers of medical nitrous oxide in The Netherlands must apply for an opium exemption on the basis of Articles 6 and 8 of the Opium Act. The small ampoules of nitrous oxide commonly used in the catering industry for whipped cream remain permitted, but may not be resold to third parties.
In the coming weeks, the final details of the ban will be ironed out.
A Canadian-based pharmaceutical company has received approval to conduct a clinical study of the psychedelic compound DMT as a treatment for stroke. Under the plan, pharmaceutical development company Algernon Pharmaceuticals will study an intravenous formulation of DMT as a treatment for stroke in the Netherlands, with the first participants receiving the drug in the fourth quarter of 2022.
Dr. David Nutt, professor of neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College London and a consultant for Algernon, said the use of DMT is a new approach to treating patients who have suffered a stroke.
“Hundreds of drugs have failed in the stroke treatment space, and nearly all of them have focused on the same strategy: a delayed attempt at neuroprotection,” Nutt told Psychedelic Spotlight.
“Algernon’s approach with DMT is to bolster the brain’s natural recovery by enhancing neuroplasticity to facilitate the creation of new neural networks,” he added. “This is something completely different than what has been tried before.”
Stroke is a brain injury that is usually caused by a blood clot or other blockage of blood vessels in the brain, resulting in a loss or reduction of blood flow that prevents oxygen and nutrients from getting to brain tissue. Stroke is the fifth leading cause of death in the United States, taking the life of someone every four minutes. Stroke is also the leading cause of long-term disability among Americans, according to information from the United Brain Association. Someone in the U.S. has a stroke every 40 minutes, for a total of nearly 800,000 strokes every year.
Stroke can cause brain cells to die due to lack of oxygen. A stroke can also cause other damage including neuroinflammation from reperfusion, which is tissue damage to brain cells caused when blood flow is restored. Currently, there are no conventional medical therapies that are highly effective at addressing reperfusion injury in stroke patients.
DMT Is a Natural Psychedelic Drug
N,N-dimethyltryptamine, or DMT, is a hallucinogenic tryptamine drug similar to LSD or psilocybin, although with effects that are usually short-lived but very intense and vivid. Humans produce an endogenous form of the drug, and it can also be found in several species of plants and animals.
Previous research has shown that DMT may have unique benefits for treating stroke patients. The drug can provide protective effects after reperfusion injury and help stimulate new cell growth. DMT has also been shown to improve neuroplasticity, the ability of the brain to form and restructure synaptic connections in response to learning or experience or after an injury.
“In a rat stroke occlusion study, rats given DMT showed reduction in the area of brain damage from the stroke and had almost a full recovery of motor function when compared to control,” said Algernon CEO Christopher Moreau. “In a preclinical research study at UC Davis, DMT increased neuroplasticity in a cortical neuron growth assay.”
Moreau believes that DMT represents a novel way to promote healing and recovery after an ischemic stroke.
“For 85% of patients suffering an ischemic stroke, which constitute 85% of all strokes, there are no treatment options,” said Moreau. “Hundreds of stroke drugs have failed in the clinic but have been focused on neuroprotective measures, whereas DMT represents a different approach to stroke treatment, helping with healing after the injury occurs.”
Algernon’s study will begin later this year to research the safety and tolerability of DMT among 60 test subjects, including participants with and without experience with psychedelic drugs. While other studies have shown DMT to be safe and well-tolerated, the study is unique because it involves prolonged infusions of non-psychedelic doses of the drug for durations longer than previously studied. Moreau explained that the fastest way to deliver a drug and maximize the dose is through a single injection over a short period of time or a “long duration intravenous delivery method because it bypasses the stomach and liver.
“Algernon will be delivering a sub-psychedelic dose to patients over a range of multiple time periods,” he said. “This approach has never been done before in a Phase I trial.”
The initial part of the study will use a single-escalating dose design to determine a safe, tolerable dose that will not produce psychedelic effects. The second part of the research will study the effects of repeated, prolonged administrations at the determined dose. Algernon will use the data generated by the research to develop a Phase 2 clinical trial that will test the DMT infusion on acute and recovering stroke patients.
Algernon received approval to conduct the research from Stichting Beoordeling Ethiek Biomedisch Onderzoek (“BEBO”), an independent Medical Research Ethics Committee (“MREC”). The trial will be conducted at the Centre for Human Drug Research in the city of Leiden in the Netherlands.
“I was drawn to DMT’s endogenous nature and possible role in naturally occurring altered states of consciousness such as dreams and psychosis, as well as being a prototype for other psychedelic drugs in common use,” Algernon consultant Rick Strassman MD, a psychiatrist and psychopharmacologist and the author of the book DMT: The Spirit Molecule, said in a statement from the company. “Our careful assessment of psychedelic and non-psychedelic doses of DMT established guidelines for studies utilizing its neuroplastogenic effects in stroke, an application I would not have predicted at the time. These more recent findings of DMT’s effects have opened an extraordinarily promising set of potential therapeutic applications for Algernon to explore.”
