I live in Amsterdam have done for ten years..
Buying and smoking weed is legal in Holland ?
Like most forrins I thought great its legal here right? Wrong..
There is no actual law for it, its "Tolerated" but there are laws about possession and cultivation.
Every coffee shop owner is breaking laws on a daily basis though..
They have licenses to sell stuff that's ileagle, its actually illeagle for them to stock the shop in the first place. An owner could be picked up in the street and done for possession if they are stocking up their shop even though he owns the shop and license.
Each shop has a limit of how many grams can be stored in the shop (think its 60 grams - not 100% sure) and this limit basically makes unworkable especially in a downtown Amsterdam shop that could sell kilos a day.
I have been in a shop when the police rolled in with portable fingerprint scanners and digital scales and searched everyone and took details. The shop was closed down for two weeks for having too much behind the counter.
Why did this happen? a week before the police had to come to break a fight outside (not the first time) so they decided to crack down on them using the full power of the law, their "toleration"ran out.
Just like in the UK you can done for possession of even a joint, you speak to a cop the wrong way and piss them off and yes in Holland you can get fined for even one joint.
Cultivation -Its legal to grow some plants isn't it? they "Tolerate" you to be able to grow 5 plants in your garden.
The same law applies here for possession when its dry and bagged up. So you could get a kilo or more from the 5 plants but then be breaking the possession law.
They "tolerate" around 30 grams in your house - so in effect if you get complained about the police could roll in and take a kilo from you and leave you with 30 grams and confiscate the plants and any seeds you have.
I have fallen fowl of this law myself, I had twenty plants on my roof garden. One of my kind neighbours made a complaint to the local beat bobby and one Sunday morning at 8am I had 6 cops (with guns) at my front door demanding access to the roof. Stupidly I let them in because I was in a hungover state, I should have held out and let them get a warrant, they asked me to choose which 5 I wanted to keep and snapped the others in half and took them away with them. I got a written ticket for this, no fine no police record but a stern ticking off by the head cop, I just played the stupid forrin and told them I thought you could have 20 plants not 5 and they let me off with a proper charge, I guess if i was an asshole to them about it all they could have used the law on me resulting in a record and a fine.
Seeds - Its totally legal to sell seeds in shops isn't it? yes they seed companies operate under strict licenses and they have legally sanctioned grow rooms.
So the point in all of this to me is this, if they bring in this weed pass for Dutch nationals only it will have to have a law behind it. Weed then by the back door becomes legal.
Also each city council will be able to vote to uphold this law or not, so of course Amsterdam city council will vote no and forrins will be "tolerated" to be able to buy weed again.
So maybe its not such a bad thing, it could be that the govt have dropped the ball here and do not realise what they are actually doing. I saw a minister on the TV the other talking about this topic and he was totally ignorant of the current laws and "toleration's" so we are hoping that this guy had a good say as to what these new laws are about - if so it could be really a WIN! that is not expected.
(, Wed 8 Jun 2011, 15:16, Reply)