Dutch to reclassify high-strength cannabis

[Bazarocka]

(Quote) "The famous cannabis-selling coffee shops of the Netherlands are facing new tighter restrictions.
The Dutch government is reclassifying high-strength cannabis to put it in the same category as hard drugs.
It says the amount of the main active chemical in the drug, THC, has gone up, making it far more potent than a generation ago."


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15225270


Wow what a bummer, THIS CAN NOT BE GOOD. They'll just send all the 15% and above cultivators even further underground and start another classification in there so called "DRUG WAR".

 

[VerdantGreen]

The Dutch government reclassifying high-strength cannabis

The Dutch government reclassifying high-strength cannabis

The famous cannabis-selling coffee shops of the Netherlands are facing new tighter restrictions.

The Dutch government is reclassifying high-strength cannabis to put it in the same category as hard drugs.

It says the amount of the main active chemical in the drug, THC, has gone up, making it far more potent than a generation ago.

It means the coffee shops will be forced to take the popular, high-strength varieties off their shelves.

Dutch politicians say high-strength cannabis, known as "skunk", is more dangerous than it was before.

In the future, anything containing more than 15% THC will be treated the same way as hard drugs, such as cocaine and ecstasy.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15225270

sounds like a tough one to enforce - but i guess most hash will be off the menu!

VG

 

[RetroGrow]

Dutch classify high-potency marijuana as hard drug

Dutch classify high-potency marijuana as hard drug

This is too much....

"AMSTERDAM - The Dutch government said Friday it would move to classify high-potency marijuana alongside hard drugs such as cocaine and ecstasy, the latest step in the country's ongoing reversal of its famed tolerance policies.

The decision means most of the cannabis now sold in the Netherlands' weed cafes would have to be replaced by milder variants. But skeptics said the move would be difficult to enforce, and that it could simply lead many users to smoke more of the less potent weed.

Possession of marijuana is technically illegal in the Netherlands, but police do not prosecute people for possession of small amounts, and it is sold openly in designated cafes. Growers are routinely prosecuted if caught.

Economic Affairs Minister Maxime Verhagen said weed containing more than 15 percent of its main active chemical, THC, is so much stronger than what was common a generation ago that it should be considered a different drug entirely.

The high potency weed has "played a role in increasing public health damage," he said at a press conference in The Hague.

The Cabinet has not said when it will begin enforcing the rule.

Jeffrey Parsons, a psychologist at Hunter College in New York who studies addiction, said the policy may not have the benefits the government is hoping for.

"If it encourages smoking an increased amount of low-concentration THC weed, it is likely to actually cause more harm than good," he said, citing the potential lung damage and cancer-causing effects of extra inhalation.

The Dutch Justice Ministry said Friday it was up to cafes to regulate their own products and police will seize random samples for testing.

But Gerrit-Jan ten Bloomendal, spokesman for the Platform of Cannabis Businesses in the Netherlands, said implementing the plan would be difficult "if not impossible."

"How are we going to know whether a given batch exceeds 15 percent THC? For that matter, how would health inspectors know?" he said. He predicted a black market will develop for highly potent weed.

The ongoing Dutch crackdown on marijuana is part of a decade-long rethink of liberalism in general that has seen a third of the windows in Amsterdam's famed prostitution district shuttered and led the Netherlands to adopt some of the toughest immigration rules in Europe.

The number of licensed marijuana cafes has been reduced, and earlier this year the government announced plans to ban tourists from buying weed. That has been resisted by the city of Amsterdam, where the marijuana cafes known euphemistically as "coffee shops" are a major tourist draw.

Marjan Heuving of the Netherlands' Trimbos Institute, which studies mental health and addiction, said there is a growing body of evidence that THC causes mental illnesses.

She said it stands to reason "the more THC the body takes in, the more the impact." But it has not been demonstrated scientifically that high THC weed is worse for mental health, she said.

Parsons of Hunter College said it remains difficult to be sure whether marijuana causes mental problems or whether people predisposed to, say, depression seek it out as a form of self-medication.

The Trimbos Institute says the average amount of THC in Dutch marijuana is currently around 17.8 percent. It has been declining since 2004 after increasing steadily from 4 percent or so in the 1970s.

By comparison, in the United States the average level of THC in marijuana is around 10 percent and rising, according to the last measure released by the Office of National Drug Control Policy in 2009.

Heuving agreed with Ten Bloomendal that determining THC levels outside of a laboratory setting would prove difficult, as exact content varies widely from batch to batch and even within a single plant.

"I don't know of any home test," she said. "How this is going to work in practical terms, I have no idea."


http://www.cnbc.com/id/44816915

 

[PoopyTeaBags]

wtf is going on....big pharma ready to introduce there shit so there pushing to kill shit everywhere?

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

That's weird. When I get the fire I just smoke less.

 

[yesum]

The Dutch are going backwards on pot, pretty sad.

 

[Harry Gypsna]

So much for the new liberal gov

 

[Darkstarlive]

Conservative goverments around the world look to undo any liberal policies and take the peoples voice away.

Hell, even so-called liberal goverment, Obama, is ignoring the peoples voice, look at what they're doing in Cali and other states with the federal prosecutions of Med-MJ shops, landlords and patients.

The peoples voice are disregarded.

 

[sso]

with the latest actions in america, canada and amsterdam

governments, just died in my eyes and became pointless.

 

[supermanlives]

we dont want shitty weed.

 

[SOTF420]

Someone wake me up when this is over please what the hell is wrong with these tards!

My take on this is that if you can still buy really stinky pussy legally but not strong stinky weed anymore then something is definitely fucking wrong here.

 

[phan]

Here is the BBC version os the story....not much better.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15225270

 

[stone_edd]

Someone wake me up when this is over please what the hell is wrong with these tards!

My take on this is that if you can still buy really stinky pussy legally but not strong stinky weed anymore then something is definitely fucking wrong here.

True that..

This if it becomes law is bad news for people the world over. Goverments and law makers have been looking towards The Netherlands recentley to impose tougher Pot laws on their own citizens saying that liberal drug policy in Holland has failed.
These scum bags are the same people who want Muslim women not to wear headscarfes and ban Mosques.

I'am gona have to smoke some more of my Tsi Fly now.


Peace to all..

 

[stone_edd]

Here is the BBC version os the story....not much better.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15225270

This is fucked up Nazi shit.

 

[PuReKnOwLeDgE]

I am SICK of goverment everywhere. When can we just live free as human beings born in our natural habitat.

 

[sso]

the good thing is, people allover are sick and tired of their governments.

this is going to compound that. severly
...
.though.. i think things are gonna get steadily worse for about ten years, then the people are gonna go nuts (people are still looking to the government and bankers for answers and that just means they are gonna get dryfucked in the ass at least a decade longer)

and yeah.. this will be an excuse to really start the war (check out some of the arab lackey nations, where they were fieldtesting ZERO tolerance (get put away for 0.001 gram of bud)

why do you think they are building prisons allover? to prepare for this shit.

i think its time to go really underground. at least for the next ten years.

 

[SOTF420]

And a natural plant that grows here on the earth with us for that matter

If you really just stop and think bout it, all this is over a beautiful & beneficial plant that works in synergy with the human body and mind.

Something about all this recent bad news just deeply strikes me as being not cool, not cool at all. Time to hit the bowl I think and enjoy some frosty goodness that is likely well over 15%

 

[HempHut]

Reefer Madness 2.0 is still in full swing.

Funny, no mention of hash whatsoever. It's all about the "new super strong weed" BS, but fails to consider there's been hash around like, forever -- and there still will be hash in the coffee shops, as far I know.

And it also fails to account for self-titration -- using less when something is more potent because you know how to find your level. Just as people drink pints of beer, but ounces of liquor.

 

[PoopyTeaBags]

i dont smoke weed thats not over 15% -=P

 

[Preacher]

Marjan Heuving of the Netherlands' Trimbos Institute, which studies mental health and addiction, said there is a growing body of evidence that THC causes mental illnesses.

She said it stands to reason "the more THC the body takes in, the more the impact." But it has not been demonstrated scientifically that high THC weed is worse for mental health, she said.

The FDA downgraded Marinol to Schedule III citing its "excellent safety record". Funny how I NEVER see that little fact in these news reports.