noooooooooooooo (Dutch smoking ban to cover coffee shops)

[the color nine]

This can't be happening..........
Dutch smoking ban to cover coffee shops

Fri Jun 8, 3:49 PM ET

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A Dutch smoking ban will come into force in July next year for all restaurants and cafes -- including coffee shops where cannabis is the top attraction, the government decided on Friday.


"Coffee shops will be treated in the same manner as other catering businesses. They will be smoke-free," Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende told NOS television.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070608/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_dutch_smoking;_ylt=Ak92Mbb66ElSEb0mpTVzNY TMWM0F

[andrea0121]

:lol:  Guess Amsterdam is going to have to rely on the Red Light District.  :lol:

[rockthevinyl]

i read in another article that the ban was for cig-smoking not for pot-smoking?  i wonder how it'll affect tourism at any rate...

[ras1187]

meh, more important things at stake for me to be worried about where people can/cant inhale their cancer sticks...

[the color nine]

[quote author=ras1187 link=topic=7989.msg406852#msg406852 date=1181546930]
meh, more important things at stake for me to be worried about where people can/cant inhale their cancer sticks...
[/quote]

A pic for you. 

[Wildgem]

Pot is legal? I never knew that...I'm packing and moving to Amsterdam.

[Hellbettie]

[quote author=Wildgem link=topic=7989.msg407116#msg407116 date=1181570051]
Pot is legal? I never knew that...I'm packing and moving to Amsterdam.
[/quote]

Shroomies too 

[beautiful.disaster]

awwwww.  that makes me sad.  amsterdam won't be the same.

[riz]

I thought I heard on NPR this morning that it DIDN'T apply to the cafes, therefore ensuring that Amsterdam remains a stony-friendly city.

[the color nine]

Dutch restaurants and bars will have a unique effect on shops that specialize in selling marijuana and hashish. At least, that's what correspondent Rico Gagliano seems to remember...

email this story


TEXT OF INTERVIEW

MARK AUSTIN THOMAS: In the Netherlands, it appears the government will ban smoking in restaurants and cafes starting next year. I mean tobacco smoking — but in Amsterdam, tobacco is mixed with other things at certain cafes.

Our reporter Rico Gagliano joins us from the red light district of Amsterdam. Rico, how is this going to affect the cafes?

RICO GAGLIANO: Well, the law is designed to protect the employees of the coffee shops. And that's what we're talking about here, they're called "coffee shops" in English — that's how you can identify a place where you want to smoke marijuana. Essentially, what a coffee shop would look like, if this thing were to go into effect, would be you'd walk in, and there would be a sort of booth area where you would buy the marijuana. And then you'd be allowed, say, behind a glass partition, and you could smoke it behind the glass partition — but nobody would be allowed to come in there to serve you.

THOMAS: Now, you've been in to a couple of these places, I gather?

GAGLIANO: Uh, yeah. But make no mistake, I'm high on life.

THOMAS: OK, thank you for clarifying. But what are people saying about this?

GAGLIANO: I talked to a couple — a young man and woman from Wales — and they said that if this were to go into effect that they wouldn't like it as much, that it would ruin the atmosphere. And then I asked them how it would ruin it, and they looked confused and didn't say anything for a while. And then I remembered I was interviewing two people who were high on marijuana.

I also went in to talk to the mananger of the High Times coffee shop. He seemed to believe that not too many people are worried about it... It's an idea that's been kicked around for many years and people have wondered how the smoking ban would affect shops. And the gentleman I spoke to at the High Times coffee shop felt that the government makes too much money off of taxes to do anything that would really cripple this industry.

THOMAS: OK, Rico Gagliano in Amsterdam... Thanks.

TONG: Thanks a lot.
http://marketplace.publicradio.org/shows/2007/06/11/AM200706118.html

[109ace]

I read a report that pot is only legal for residents of the country.

But shit, It's probally still very accessible anyway.

[Fleta]

Knowing that I'm not interested in this thread before having to click on it would be cool.

Vague titles suck. :-)

[HyperU2]

[quote author=Fleta link=topic=7989.msg434396#msg434396 date=1182916472]
Knowing that I'm not interested in this thread before having to click on it would be cool.

Vague titles suck. :-)
[/quote]

Actually I knew what this was going to be about just by the title.  :)