| Photo: Bistra Velichkova |
| Coffee Chop DE OS in Leeuwarden, Netherlands, may soon be forced to stop selling its most potent cannabis and hashish — if reefer madness-infected Mayor Ferd Crone has his way. |
The old “marijuana is stronger than it used to be” and “reefer madness” arguments, so popular in the United States, are taking a tour of Europe. Marijuana and hashish which he considers to be “too strong” could soon be banned in Leeuwarden, Netherlands, if local Mayor Ferd Crone has his way.
Mayor Crone has submitted his proposal to the city council, under which “coffee shops” would eventually lose their license if they sell marijuana with more than an agreed level of the main active ingredient, THC, reports Dutch News.
The THC level in marijuana and hashish in Dutch coffee shops has supposedly doubled over the past few years, from 10 percent to around 20 percent. Some samples tested by Trimbos Institute have turned up a THC level up to 64.8 percent, Volkskrant reported on Monday.
| Photo: FSI |
| Leeuwarden Mayor Ferd Crone: “The level of THC has been going up for years and I am increasingly reading about the damage caused to people by soft drugs usage who have psychotic episodes because of smoking” |
”The only thing which still has to be determined is the official limit,” Crone said.
It was not clear if implementing the change would require national legislation, according to Crone.
“We have a policy of turning a blind eye to soft drug use so we can regulate and monitor it. But that does not work anymore,” the hysterical mayor claimed. “The level of THC has been going up for years and I am increasingly reading about the damage caused to people by soft drugs usage who have psychotic episodes because of smoking,” the mayor claimed.
“That is why I want to have this discussion,” Crone said, leaving out the part about his political ambitions.
Leeuwarden cannabis cafe owner Gerrit-Jan ten Bloemendal told Volkskrant the plan was “‘well meant” but impossible to enforce.
| Photo: Bistra Velichkova |
| Gerrit Jan ten Bloemendal of Coffee Shop DE OS rolls a joint of Jack Herer, Dutch style, by mixing cannabis with tobacco. |
There is no evidence that stronger levels of THC are worse for health, Ten Bloemendal said.
“If you know something is strong, you smoke less,” he told Volkskrant.
But it would nevertheless be useful for consumers to be able to know THC percentage as part of the product information, similar to the “proof” of alcohol, Ten Bloemendal said.
“All the people who are working in the coffee shop smoke weed,” Ten Bloemendal said. “If you want to be a good seller you have to be able to give advice to the customers. Otherwise it will be like in a butcher shop to work a man who is vegetarian.”
The Netherlands “tolerates” possession of up to five grams of marijuana for personal use. Cannabis cafes, known as coffee shops, are allowed to have up to 500 grams on the premises.