[Sativied]

Originally Posted by SativaBreather

amsterdam is shit, has been for years - the weather aint much better than UK if at all, the food is shit, the herb is wank and overpriced, most of what is on sale is not what it purports to be.

Yeah right.... have you ever been to Amsterdam? Sure doesn't sound like it. Sounds more like envy. I frequently talk to Brits in Amsterdam and never met one that didn't love it.

Though a tad better than in the UK, the weather does suck roughly 46 weeks of the year. And with so many coffeeshops there is obviously also a lot of trash. This has a lot to do with growing being illegal, just as you can buy trash on the street. The opposite is also true though, with so many coffeeshops and such a large variety (many small suppliers) there is a lot of quality. Just need to know where to go and what to buy. Same goes for food, from so many different cultures and restaurants it's silly to tar them all with the same brush.

It's been 23 years since I first went to Amsterdam, go about 6-8 times a year now, visited most of the coffeeshops (in and around the center anyway). Things got worse when coffeeshops started targeting more and more on tourists than locals... Amsterdam is nowadays a themepark for stoner tourists, and in theme parks everything is overpriced.

Originally Posted by SativaBreather

You can buy and smoke herb there - thats it

Ah but that's a pretty big 'it'.

Still hands down the best place for the ICmag cup.

Unless of course, back to the OP and OT, the 15%THC is actually going to be implemented 'and' enforced. Currently again being debated in politics. One of the leading parties still insists on moving forward with the limit, the other leading party is stalling with the help of a few others. At the start of the current term they agreed on limiting the THC%, but the PVDA (second leading party, labor party) does not agree with the 15% as no research shows that for example 16% is worse.

Unfortunately there is a small majority for the 15%limit (leading party + several religious/conservatives) and it's still in the planning. The debate is currently amongst others about how (the hell) coffeeshops are supposed to control the THC contents. The logs of the debates show so clearly nobody even knows what they are talking about. One of the arguments of those who oppose the THC limit is that the CBD contents should be taken into account as "it counters the negative effects of THC". Those who want the limit claim there's a relation between the increase of THC over the past decade and the number of 'addicts'...

I was going to suggest Barcelona as an alternative location, but the national government is working on changing the laws so they can stop the social cannabis clubs.

[gaiusmarius]

shit i had read something about them wanting to make national laws to stop the social clubs, but didnt realize they were already working on it. will have to do a quick visit this summer before it changes.

for all the disadvantages people point out about Amsterdam, there is one big major advantage. there is no other city in europe where you can sit around in a coffee shop eating drinking and smoking to your hearts content, even outside some shops. the relaxed feeling you have while smoking in a coffee shop can not be compared to anything else really. you can sit there knowing nothing what so ever can happen. anyone thats never experienced getting high in a place of 100% safety can not really get me. there is something unique about it. of course now it's getting to be like that in some places in the US too. but for Europe there is nothing like it. even if the 15% rule gets introduced, it will apply to the coffee shop weed, cup entries wouldn't be limited to 15% anyway.

[Sativied]

Originally Posted by gaiusmarius

the relaxed feeling you have while smoking in a coffee shop can not be compared to anything else really. you can sit there knowing nothing what so ever can happen. anyone thats never experienced getting high in a place of 100% safety can not really get me.

Sure summed that up nicely. And that is partly exactly why coffeeshops were tolerated in the first place, a 'safe place' for soft-drugs users to enjoy their cannabis. Safe from cops and hard drug pushers. Other part was taking away the business away from dealers on the street.

Originally Posted by gaiusmarius

even if the 15% rule gets introduced, it will apply to the coffee shop weed, cup entries wouldn't be limited to 15% anyway.

Unfortunately, the 15% rule is not just a limit on mj sold in coffeeshops, it's to put 15%+ THC mj back on the opium list, 'schedule I drug' as they call it in the US. The leading parties want this to comply with international (UN) agreements (NL doesn't want to be 'the' narco state at UNGASS for example). One of the advantages they see in a limit is the ability to treat anything above it as hard drugs and the people involved as criminals, and involve even more cops in the war against drugs. Theoretically if you were to get caught with a bag of mj (only 5 gram per person per shop can be sold) it would get tested and if it's higher than 15%... In practice it seems impossible to enforce and that's one of the reasons other oppose the limit.

My point is, that that 15% limit would take away from the safe relaxed feeling. For the law an ICmag cup that includes 15%+ thc strains (most?) could be treated the same as a coke cup. Not likely, especially not in Amsterdam, but that "100% safety" would certainly decrease for me.

That's the worst case scenario but also the scenario the leading party is still aiming for. I still have good hopes it will never come to that.

Some recent news about Barcelona:
Barcelona bans new clubs for 1 year: https://www.thelocal.es/20140613/barc...s-for-one-year

[gaiusmarius]

yeah i was more saying that we won't test the entries and stop anyone entering with over 15% lol. i realize it would involve all bud. i guess if they do it we will use Sams idea and ask members to send in with the sugar leaves which would reduce over all thc content. anyway i'm thinking they will not end up doing this, it will spoil their canna tourist industry if the customers are always getting disturbed by police raiding and checking every ones weed. would spoil the vibe and make it the same as anywhere else really. time will tell i guess, all we can do is take it event by event. my hope is that they will find most strains are not much over 15% anyway so no point to go with this, specially when you know that thc content is not all that is responsible for the high strength.

[Sativied]

Ah I see, misunderstood.

Originally Posted by gaiusmarius

i guess if they do it we will use Sams idea and ask members to send in with the sugar leaves which would reduce over all thc content.

I doubt that's going to make a difference, sounds clever in theory but in practice only a very small amount of 'bud' is tested to determine the THC contents. They would be a dick about it and test the most frosty pieces.

Originally Posted by gaiusmarius

anyway i'm thinking they will not end up doing this, it will spoil their canna tourist industry if the customers are always getting disturbed by police raiding and checking every ones weed. would spoil the vibe and make it the same as anywhere else really.

Yeah especially in Amsterdam which does want to hold up its reputation of being tolerant. The newly formed coalition in Amsterdam just last week announced they want Amsterdam to take a leading role when it comes to legal cannabis grows. So there's good and bad news and will just have to wait which way the scale tips.

[Matthew Harvey]

The only one I ever entered back in 2005 we won 2nd place Hash at. Hyped to see these are still going on! That's cool. Was just in Barcelona last month and are opening up a club now. Anyone in the know knew that news was coming. What is crazy is we went to a almost every social club too to get a feel for things - and Spain is at least 10 years behind. Their extracts have butane bubbles in them and would not be acceptable in North American in the slightest way, shape or form. The flowers were absolutely brutal. The hash? well let's just say that the God Bubble we won the ICMag 2nd hash cup with way back in 2005 was light years ahead of anything we saw or sampled just a couple weeks ago. And this is supposed to be 2014, while that was way back in 2005!!

[gaiusmarius]

Originally Posted by Matthew Harvey

The only one I ever entered back in 2005 we won 2nd place Hash at. Hyped to see these are still going on! That's cool. Was just in Barcelona last month and are opening up a club now. Anyone in the know knew that news was coming. What is crazy is we went to a almost every social club too to get a feel for things - and Spain is at least 10 years behind. Their extracts have butane bubbles in them and would not be acceptable in North American in the slightest way, shape or form. The flowers were absolutely brutal. The hash? well let's just say that the God Bubble we won the ICMag 2nd hash cup with way back in 2005 was light years ahead of anything we saw or sampled just a couple weeks ago. And this is supposed to be 2014, while that was way back in 2005!!

hm did you visit some of the places that were mentioned in the Barcelona Breeders Cup? some of the members who were there were very impressed with the bud quality and specially the price. also they were talking about top quality bho for like 10 euro a g.

anyway i did read an article recently about a club getting busted for serving tourists like common dealers rather then following the social club rules. cops seem to be going in undercover once they hear about a club. so yeah with the talk in the national gov of closing the social club loophole, will be interesting to see how the next years in the canna industry will go.

[Matthew Harvey]

We're not sure the places mentioned in the barcelona breeders cup but at strain hunters club for example we were shocked by the quality. you would think they would be doing way better than that. we didn't make it by Kush but we will next time... we're back in Barcelona right after the HT Med Cannabis Cup coming up at the end of month here in San Fran.

[catbuds]

I've been on the legalization bandwagon since about 1970. I'm so tired of waiting for legalization, I just want to move deep into the wilderness & do my thing & forget about all the political BS. If they indeed drop the limit on thc, this will ruin Amsterdam. One would think the cash flow generated by the tourist trade would be sorely missed. But I'm guessing Colorado & Uruguay may have already damaged that for them a little.
- I think the coffee houses had a certain atmosphere that was very appealing. I love coffee as much as I love weed. What could be more enjoyable that a good pastry, a BIG , perfect cup of coffee & a bowl or two. I'm looking forward to starbucks selling buds with their joe, to be comfortably consumed on premisses, surrounded by other like minded tokers.

[Sativied]

While there is a majority for the THC limit it has been decided to delay it again, more research will be done in regards to the testing method. So no 15% THC limit starting 2015.

However... it is considered likely to happen sooner or later anyway. There will already be a huge absurd fine for DUI that involves both cannabis and alcohol use soon. Technically even on a bike... And it gets worse. It looks like all the grow shops will have to close. Specifically facilitating the grow of mj in any way, by providing equipment or services, will become illegal. Even regular gardening shops will be checked and investigated for ties with mj growers... hydroponics is going to increase in popularity...

And, seed banks... they will also be investigated for ties with mj grows. One crazy possibility is that they'll only be allowed to export.

It's almost game over in the Netherlands. On paper anyway.