this is a lot of weed here just in this
one box and obviously you're servin
every day when you age you know where's
your supply come from
let me think how to the they bring it in
we say we have magical appearance
everywhere in Amsterdam because just
swell suddenly we have weed Amsterdam is
believed by many to be one of the most
liberal places on earth when it comes to
weed policy it's been the example cited
by all legislation campaigns with
cannabis widely available in the high
street the laws are tightening a lot of
tourists come basically to these famous
coffee shops to smoke weed and walks
things seem to be running business as
usual what they don't realize that
actually under the surface things are
changing the international weed
community got some first-hand experience
of this during the 2011 cannabis cup
which was shut down by the police
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police in Holland warned the public not
to get involved in the cannabis industry
but to do I'll she Snell health wheels
for diamond you saw a knife and a pair
could I clean up a femur that's count
untied boot camp taught you all
philosophers ooh plans on the PT and
O'Keefe in liver and Quaker a some of
the most well known coffee shops now
have limited opening hours or have been
shut down completely so we went to see
what's happening to the poster boy of
the legalization movement so run away to
meet a guy who has had to close down his
business because the government have
said under their new regulations that
he's too close to a school despite being
there for years and operating up at the
same place
how's it going nice to meet ya yeah good
thanks good thanks good neck so your
shots closing down right yeah why what
happen we're closed
post to school within 250 meters yeah
that's why they're closing it down
it's nice building yeah well they have
approximately 60 students 13 shops are
closing down in the Civic Center and
where's your coffee shop it's 160 meters
away from about 50 million yeah at least
go away yeah the City Council they say
phone okay we have to protect our
fragile youths because all day we maybe
attempt them to smoke a joint
do you get many students will come in
super-plow never they're not allowed to
come in
why not their blood the i-team well if
you want to enter a coffee shop you have
to be at least 18 and people below the
18 are not allowed in
you can't even see the school from here
no now there's now because there is a
sign in front of it you can see the
yellow window she was right and that's
really right next to it yeah
for years we tourists have flooded
Amsterdam leading to complaints from the
heads of state the government never
truly a big fan of weed anyway has
decided to take action to appease them
the dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte
explained his actions icon at Orlando of
man column article doubtless a dot and
dill from the top did i sorry and he'll
haunt ya need to be able to sell police
officer massive elephant eats been an
aphid Duman with olive or lifting
hamster golf need to talk about all the
export end on my house needle on totally
shave over so all coffee shops that were
too close to the southern border had to
introduce a weed pass effectively
banning tourists
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when the government said the rest of
Holland will be next
including tourist hotspot Amsterdam the
liberal mayor there was able to cut a
deal
the city would start closing about a
third of all coffee shops to please the
national government this was a symbolic
political move by the mayor to show he
cares and to prevent having to ban all
tourists from Amsterdam's coffee shops
so due to the entirety regulation of
coffee shops here in Amsterdam this bar
the old church was once well known for
selling weed but now only sells alcohol
and another coffee shop here high-time
is going to have to close down also
within a year and unfortunately for yup
he's one of the seventy people who have
to go
sounds like the governor just you know
showing the door and he's shown in you a
little bit yeah that's that's what they
tried to do already for the last 16
years and that's also the part that
you're fed up with because you do your
best you make something nice you see
that your audience the visitors really
enjoy and the only thing is that our
government is so blind that they'd say
it's not okay they're criminals but this
is like this is love weed here just in
this one box when you age you know we're
just apply come from yeah let me think
how to the we say we have magical
appearance everywhere in Amsterdam
because just well suddenly we have weed
that's a stupid thing I'm not allowed to
grow it myself I'm not allowed to buy it
I'm not allowed to transport it if they
should catch me then directly I have a
stand criminal and because I have
criminal all the money I make are out of
criminal activities so then I have to
pay them back and that's an amount that
I cut off for what the bankrupt
yeah totally
after 16 years you're fed up with it
growing weed in Holland has never
actually been legal but it still sold
openly
sixteen pleased to help understand this
system we met with lawyer Maurice
Feldman who represents many of
Amsterdam's coffee shops in court the
coffee shops are not really legal they
are allowed we call it a Adolphe belies
it to say they are allowed but they're
not legalized that's some people think
that drugs are legal in Holland but it's
not it is illegal but it allows to sell
in small amounts
Maurice describes this as a backdoor
method users are allowed to buy a
maximum of five grams but that's where
the visible part of the chain ends
coffee shops have to buy the supply and
a fully illegal market growing and
distribution are done by criminal
networks people who supply the
greenhouse with different kinds of
cannabis few times a day they walk in
here and they drop it back of the
counter and they disappear immediately
and these people and they don't exist in
the organization because it's not
allowed stranger explained it's in a
serious way but it's reality in
Amsterdam it's an uncomfortable Dutch
compromise that's been around since the
70s
what's new is an influx of new
government regulation it's working to
limit the amount of THC in we is banning
garden centres that supply the industry
with the lights and soil and is
massively increased its raids on growers
this is why weed smokers in Holland
despite having it so good still have
festivals to protest what they see as an
unfair system we didn't expect from a
weed festival we've got kiddies bouncy
castle here
[Music]
[Applause]
there were no shortage of users at this
festival but we wanted to speak to a
grower somewhere with the infamous dude
at the young decide the tremendous
Quakers and coffee shop owners of a line
over the students will he know
he's effectively a celebrity in the
Dutch weed community as he's one of the
only Brewers who still dares to speak
out about the restrictions not easy at
the moment in in the Netherlands there's
a lot of repression and it's it's going
worse I think it's priority number one
to catch farmers oversweet but his
openness got him into trouble
dorita hey alright I'm fine
Duda has been openly growing weed for
around thirty years even starred in a
documentary that was broadcast on
national television does expect will
neptune exercise reached the do the dome
is the only way grower in the dutch that
year's comes out in the open for his
living why did you come out in europe i
couldn't accept it that it's it's it's
sold and it may not be grown that's
that's that's this rubbish and it's
unacceptable this is the greenhouse oh
wow look like a wall yes this our
tomatoes huh his media campaign
backfired though not long after the
documentary aired dude his house was
raided by the police they tried to put
me down as an example right two feet to
fear the rest so to scare off other pros
to scare other growers though so they
put me as an example Duda still has five
plants in his greenhouse which is
usually the limit at which the police
turned a blind eye in Holland they want
you to pay money yes how much - two
hundred and thirty three thousand and
Euro and sixty cents exactly because
it's currently no plan to get rid of
coffee shops all together in Amsterdam
but the current government is
excessively trying to curb them wheat
smokers from all over Europe can still
fly to Amsterdam to get high but the
torch of green enlightenment has long
passed across the ocean
you
[Music]
[Applause]