Posts Tagged ‘Coffeeshops’
Cannabis legal in the Czech Republic?!
December 28th, 2009 | 
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The Czech Republic is bringing in some very interesting legislation in 2010.
From January 1st, individuals in possession of 15 grams of cannabis or less will not be charged with a crime in the Czech Republic. The new laws, which decriminalize the possession of ‘small amounts’ of most currently illegal drugs, are based on a Justice Ministry proposal which was approved by the Czech government earlier this month.
Previously, there were few clear definitions of what level of drug possession was treated as ‘small’, since standards were based on internal police directives and could change from region to region. The new legislation clearly defines how much of each substance is considered a ‘small amount’ under the law. Individuals in possession of this amount or less will not be charged with a crime.
Additionally, the new laws seem to make it possible for individuals to grow up to five cannabis plants. However, if current Dutch legislation is anything to go by, this may not necessarily include indoor growing with lamps, nor allow households with several adults to grow five plants each.
In any case, this new legislation is a big step in the right direction and we hope that other European countries will be inspired by the Czech move towards a sane drug policy.
Posted in News | 
Tags: cannabis, Cannabis News, Coffeeshops, crime, Czech Republic, government, Legalisation, legalize, legislation, marijuana, Society and Cannabis, war on drugs | 
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Dutch coffeeshop closed to tourists?
The Netherlands used to be one of the most progressive countries in the world when it came to softdrugs.
The Dutch policy of regulating rather then prohibiting has obviously worked, as the percentage of regular (soft)drugs user is lower then in almost all european countries and even the United States. The only problem is that cannabis was never actually legalized – in contrary to what many people believe – cannabis is still an illegal substance according to Dutch law. This has led to the unworkable situation where people can buy small amounts at the coffeeshop but the coffeeshops can’t buy their weed legally.
This “decriminalization” policy is a weird situation, but it has worked for years. However, in the past couple of years the political climate seems to be changing. Some elements in the Dutch government are doing everything in their power to stop people from having a bit of fun. In this context it means closing many coffeeshops, having coffeeshops owners choose between their liquor licence and their “coffeeshop” licence and now even closing most coffeeshops for tourist.
The proposal that will be discussed in parliament today is that of a members-only policy for all coffeeshops and tourists are only allowed in the larger coffeeshops. It is not exactly clear yet what this means for Amsterdam and other major cities, but it is another giant leap in the wrong direction. The Dutch government will put forward a new bill somewhere in the coming months which will (hopefully) give more clarity on how the future is going to look.
All we know is that if this proposal is actually going to come into effect it will cause more problems then it will solve.
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Tags: amsterdam, Cannabis News, closed, Coffeeshops, decriminalization, dutch, Dutch government, licence, liquor licence, membership, membership pas, parliament, Society and Cannabis, the Netherlands, tourists, weird situation |
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