Protest Day on the Spui, June 30th 2007

[milehigh]

My GF is heading up this "Legalize" Protest day. It happens on the Spui in Amsterdam in front of the American Book Store on June 30th from noon till about 8:00PM. I hope any of you that may be in town will stop by for a chat and show your support. We will have entertainment, speakers all day, and some great information about soft drug use, where it was, where it's at, and most importantly, where it's going. We hope to have lots of press coverage and are inviting all the Dutch Politicians, educators, and law enforcement to come by and be educated by those that know.

Cheers and wish us luck.

milehigh

Hey, we need money and volunteers too.

 

[oldpink]

damn thats the day I'll he heading out of town to the Arrow Rock festival or I'd be there for sure

 

[Dkgrower]

My GF is heading up this "Legalize" Protest day. It happens on the Spui in Amsterdam in front of the American Book Store on June 30th from noon till about 8:00PM. I hope any of you that may be in town will stop by for a chat and show your support. We will have entertainment, speakers all day, and some great information about soft drug use, where it was, where it's at, and most importantly, where it's going. We hope to have lots of press coverage and are inviting all the Dutch Politicians, educators, and law enforcement to come by and be educated by those that know.

Cheers and wish us luck.

milehigh

Hey, we need money and volunteers too.

Sounds like a good idea- Is it a international thing or only dutch, have not heard bouth this day before.

Hehe dont have any money and live in denmark or els I would love to help
send your girl, the best regards from the Danish Hashish Movement

 

[booforever]

lmfao, i'd be into the 30th june bein a legalise it day as it's my birthday...unfortunately i'll be in sconnie botland celebrating , but i wish you a fruitful day and will spark one up in solidarity hehe

 

[milehigh]

The Flyer

The Flyer

Here is the flyer for the event. We could use help distributing them.

mh

 

[gaiusmarius]

Hi Milehigh,

sounds like a great idea, people need to be educated. dude can you translate the two posters? i got the gist of most of it, but would like to know what it says in english.

wish i could be there to show support.

kudos to your girlfriend

peace
gm

 

[ojd]

great work your girlfriend and you are doing milehigh

 

[baccas125]

Wish i could be there to help.

 

[Guest]

I surely see why the protest, the way things are goin.....welp, gots one yr to get over there and visit!



AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A Dutch smoking ban will come into force in July next year for all restaurants and cafes -- including coffee shops where cannabis is the top attraction, the government decided on Friday.

"Coffee shops will be treated in the same manner as other catering businesses. They will be smoke-free," Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende told NOS television.

"It would have been wrong to move towards a smoke-free catering industry and then make an exception for coffee shops. People would not have understood that."

Establishments will not in fact have to be completely smoke-free. Proprietors will be allowed to set up a separate room or glass partition behind which people can smoke, but customers will not be served there to protect staff.

"Employees should not have to work in an environment were they are constantly exposed to the harmful effects of smoking," Balkenende said after the cabinet's decision on Friday.

Amsterdam's renowned coffee shops, where marijuana can be smoked openly in a relaxed atmosphere, are one of the city's big draws for tourists.

Coffee shop owners argue that the ban only applies to tobacco and was unlikely to hit them hard.

Whilst commonly mixed with tobacco, marijuana can also be smoked on its own, especially in pipes, vaporisers and other contraptions.

Soft drugs are officially banned in the Netherlands but under a policy of tolerance, buyers are allowed to have less than 5 grams of cannabis in their possession.

 

[ojd]

this is a big dissapointment

i hope this doesnt happen

first the drinking and i dont even drink booze,but it was just the freedom

this is really a bummer

 

[AriesXX]

How do the "victims" feel about their work environment and the ban? I think any crowded establishment should have a good ventilation system anyway, no matter what people are smoking, otherwise the air gets nasty and stale. The smoking ban in California started out as a good idea, not to smoke in restaraunts, and now you cant smoke within 15 feet of most buildings or in bars, what a load of crap.

 

[ojd]

have any dutch members heard anything about this

 

[Boxy Brown]

I think any crowded establishment should have a good ventilation system anyway, no matter what people are smoking, otherwise the air gets nasty and stale.

most coffee shops iv been to have air filters on the ceiling.

 

[oldpink]

most coffee shops iv been to have air filters on the ceiling.

they all have air filters in them of some kind
but this has been on the cards for a while now, most Euro countrys will be "Smoke Free" by 2008
most of the Uk already is smoke free, that means you can't smoke in ANY enclosed public space
this includes malls, bars & club's, shops, cinama's etc

hopefully there will be a soloution for the coffee shops as they are unique in the fact
they are places you go to specifically to "smoke" in and the staff there know the risks associated
with working there as the law is meant to protect the staff's health as well

lets hope they get some type of exemption

OP

 

[milehigh]

Shame on the BCD

Shame on the BCD

What has been agreed upon is this: Coffeeshops will be able to allow smoking in a seperate enclosed area. The seperate enclosed area shall not include where the weed or the drinks are sold. So there will be shops with smoking. You will get your weed and drink and go into a seperate area to smoke. It is a compromise we can live with. HOWEVER, I am very disappointed in the BCD. They have just layed down for this. They don't give a rats ass about anything except their pocketbooks. It is in their interest to see other shops closed because it is more business for them. SHAME ON THE BCD.

milehigh

 

[SativaBelieva]

Crazy asses... tobacco law should not concern cannabis use... if smoked pure... or vaporized...

I might join the protesters!

 

[kov]

Fortunately it seems that coffeeshop owners may not be terrorized with the bans after all. Of course, once the legal machine starts rolling, there's no say as to what will come so...

milehigh for thinking ahead of them dumb politicians.


rgds, kov

Dutch coffee shops say cannabis smoke here to stay
Fri Apr 20, 2007 10:35AM EDT

By Sabine Fiedler

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Could a smoking ban spell the end of Amsterdam's world famous coffee shops, where smoking cannabis is one of the main attractions?

No chance, says local conservative politician and coffee shop owner Michael Veling.

The Dutch may well follow other European countries in banning tobacco smoking in restaurants, cafes and bars, but Veling says it should still be possible to smoke dope.

"It is ridiculous to think that a smoking ban would be the end of coffee shops," the 50-year-old Veling says.

He says the clientele who have been coming to coffee shops to buy and inhale cannabis are flexible enough to find a way around any ban on smoking the tobacco products they routinely mix with marijuana resin or leaf in rolled paper "joints."

"You can bring parsley or old socks if you want, cut them here and smoke them, nobody will say anything," Veling said.

"Plus there are plants that have a every similar structure to tobacco and can maybe substitute for it."

A tobacco smoking ban, which could come into force at the start of 2008, may also boost the use of some of the weirder contraptions used for inhaling the active part of marijuana, THC, which gives users a high.

"Nearly all of our American customers do that anyway, using pipes or the "volcano,"" Veling says in his dark, cozy coffee shop, pointing to a shiny, cone-shaped silver contraption.

The volcano or vaporizer heats cannabis to release vapors of THC and channels these into a long transparent balloon.

At the counter, a dark-haired man waits to get the air from the balloon into his lungs. Using the volcano makes cannabis consumption cheaper, Veling explains, because the drug can be used several times and is not burned like in a pipe.

"On good days, when the shop is full of Americans, we sell 100 or 200 of these balloons," Veling says.

TOLERANCE

But most European customers of his "De Kuil" in central Amsterdam prefer to roll their marijuana with tobacco into joints, Veling admits.

One of them is Czech-born, Swiss resident Pavel Kotrba, sitting near the entrance with a broad smile and dilated pupils.

If a ban came into force, he says: "I would smoke my joint on the street in front of the coffee shop, no problem."

Soft drugs are legally banned in the Netherlands but under a policy of "tolerance," buyers are allowed to have less than 5 g of cannabis in their possession.

Government-regulated coffee shops sell cannabis and can keep stocks of up to 500 g.

Coffee shops first sprung up in the Netherlands in the 70s and have been drawing tourists ever since.

So far the majority of Dutch parliamentarians have urged that the coffee shops be exempt from any smoking ban, but a more sweeping Europe-wide ban might be introduced.

Unlike many of his colleagues in the soft drug retail business, Veling, who is also speaker of the Dutch Cannabis Retailers organization, does not consider the ban a danger to the industry which he estimates rolls in more than 1 billion euros ($1.36 billion) a year.

Most of the more than 700 coffee shops in the Netherlands would not even be affected by it anyway, he says, as they resemble cannabis drive-ins, where people queue in front of counters, buy and leave.

"Some of these shops are huge and generate sales of approximately five million euros a year," he says.

Plus recent legislation banning the sale of both alcohol and cannabis together in coffee shops doesn't seem to have irked his customers too much.

"They smoke more, that's my impression."

 

[milehigh]

Yeah, we sat and had a talk with Michael Veling the night before last. He told me he supports Bush and the invasion of Iraq to start with. I am not shitting you one bit. He went on to say this is a victory for coffeeshop owners and they should be thankful that the Dutch compromise works. He is fucked in the head. Like I said, as others close, guess whos will be the last to close? He is self serving and does not care about the current laws, potential legislation or the future of his industry. He made it clear he is a business man and in it for the money. He then left to get a beer.

mh

 

[cannabinol]

It ain't over...

It ain't over...

until the fat lady sings!

I do not agree with the smoking ban put on my staff, nor will my staff.

My staff smokes joints, now, where do they go when they feel like one?

They will smoke in the sales area anyway, no minister can tell my staff not to smoke on the job, only I can.

I will check out legal stuff, my staff members should start a courtcase against Minister Klink, who seems to be discriminatiung them with this ban.

Colleagues, get your staff to court!

It's is time for a drinking ban in cafes, a fuck ban in the Red Light and a talking ban for dumbass ministers.

 

[AmishFarmer]

Keep on fighting the good fight.If anyone can do it,you can.Go to Haarlem and get your MJ from WW's coffeeshops so Nol can keep on fighting for all of us.Thanks,for all that you have done in the past and all that has to be done.I usually stay in Amsterdam,I think I will stay in Haarlem next time.The apartment at the Indica looks great.Smoke on.