From 1 July 2008, Dutch coffee shops – as synonymous with the Netherlands as tulips or attacking football – are banned from allowing the smoking of tobacco.
The new law allows customers to light up tobacco-free, pure cannabis joints…but bans milder spliffs in which tobacco is mixed with cannabis.
As most patrons prefer milder joints in which cannabis is mixed with tobacco, and only 18% favour much stronger, pure cannabis spliffs, the fear is that the days of the coffee shops could be numbered.
Mark Jacobsen, chairman of a nationwide association of coffee shop owners, said proper implementation of the law would require inspectors to check each cannabis joint for tobacco content.
"It’s absurd. In other countries they look to see whether you have marijuana in your cigarette, here they’ll look to see if you’ve got cigarette in your marijuana."
The tradition of the Dutch coffee shop goes back to the 1970s, following the pragmatic policy of non-enforcement of laws on the consumption and possession of cannabis that was introduced in 1976.
Under the policy, licensed coffee shops are allowed to sell five grams of cannabis to customers over 18. Last year, the country’s 750 coffee shops, half of which are in Amsterdam, were forced to choose between serving alcohol or cannabis. Most chose cannabis.
– from The Guardian, 1 July 2008 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jul/01/eu.smoking