World Of Weed

What is to become of our beloved cannabis capital – Amsterdam??? Now that the smoking ban has swept Europe, the effects on trade, tourism and our favourite recreation are becoming scarily apparent. It takes force in the Netherlands in 2008. Does this mean the end of the coffee shop era?

I am distraught to think that we might not be able to kick back and relax in the sumptuous indoor cafe environments we’ve come to know so well… With their comfortable cushions and psychedelic decor, all designed to accompany the slow euphoric release as you sample some of the finest cannabis on the earth… It’s a tailor-made stoner’s paradise. Surely it can’t be taken from us?

Cannabis Cafes will still have licenses to sell joints, but there has been concern that customers might have to go outside to smoke them. Shop owners are fiercely opposing this idea and they are within their rights: The ban as it stands only applies to tobacco smoking, not marijuana smoking. They say that there are ways to enjoy cannabis without tobacco. Customers can bring other smoking herbs to mix with their marijuana, like wild lettuce or even parsley, and smoke in their joints in peace.

Another possibility is that methods of taking cannabis will change over time. Already, many people prefer to smoke neat pipes, with no tobacco. And there is growing enthusiasm for vaporizing which eliminates smoke altogether. If you’ve ventured out there recently, you might have noticed the newly developed “Volcano” vaporizer. It can be found in most coffee shops now and looks like a giant silver cone. It vaporizes your weed and then you inhale the vapour through big balloons. I’ve not tried it myself, but I’ve heard it’s the bees knees. And there’s no smoke involved at all.

But really, if there’s one place where the smoking ban should definitely not apply, it’s got to be Amsterdam. The whole point of going there is so you can enjoy your drug choice in a place where you’re not going to get nicked. Everyone who goes into a coffee shop in Amsterdam goes in there knowing it will be filled with smoke – that’s what they are there to do. When you walk into a pub here, you expect everyone to be drinking. When you walk into a coffee shop in Amsterdam, you expect everyone to be toking. No-one in there is going to complain about passive smoking!

And what kind of effect will this have on their tourist trade? No longer will visitors be able to experience what the city is famous for. Even if they designate outside areas for smokers, it will never be the same as stepping into a cocooned new world through every doorway. There’s no doubt that some of the magic will be stripped away if this ban goes ahead without any exceptions.

Well, I’m holding out hope that the authorities haven’t completely lost their minds on this issue. What a tragedy it would be to see these safe, harmless havens disappear whilst we continue to support a culture of binge-drinking and street-fighting.