Comments on: Drugs cost monies.

Drugs cost monies.

Tlery — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 17:02:39 -0800

Dutch coffee shop fined 10m euros for breaking drug law

By: Afroblanco

Afroblanco — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 17:15:51 -0800

This is Amsterdam, we have rules here!

By: Joe Beese

Joe Beese — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 17:17:23 -0800

What happened to you, Amsterdam?

By: mattdidthat

mattdidthat — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 17:18:24 -0800

Yeah, it's legal, but it ain't 100% legal. I mean, you can't just walk into a restaurant, roll a joint, and start puffing away. They want you to smoke it in your home or certain designated places.

By: Mitheral

Mitheral — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 17:20:04 -0800

When the max tolerated amount is 500g and you've got 200kgs; ya you may just have stepped over the line a teeny bit.

By: three blind mice

three blind mice — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 17:23:29 -0800

He was convicted for keeping more than the maximum tolerated amount of 500g (18oz) of drugs at the cafe. Checkpoint served up to 3,000 people a day before being closed last year. On a couple of occasions, police found 200kg (440lb) of cannabis when they raided the coffee house. Most if not all coffee shops exceed the "maximum amount" tolerated. It is when other behaviour becomes intolerable (such as selling more than 5g in one transaction, selling to minors, generally being a nuisance) that the hammer comes down on the amount. Or so I have heard from some people who heard it from some other people.

By: Durn Bronzefist

Durn Bronzefist — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 17:23:49 -0800

It's NOT Amsterdam. The town, close to the Belgian border, put up road signs showing the way to the Checkpoint and built a car park near it to reduce traffic congestion in town. I know the drug laws in The Netherlands have recently changed, but even several years back when I was there on exchange, it was much more regulated outside of Amsterdam.

By: three blind mice

three blind mice — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 17:26:48 -0800

Also 3000 people. To make the math easy assume they buy 1g each at €10. That's €30k in revenue per day. So a fine of €10k is a light slap on the wrist.

By: anigbrowl

anigbrowl — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 17:27:48 -0800

(shrug) That's what you get for being greedy. I'm about as pro-legalization as you can get, but if he was storing millions of euros worth when the legal limits say he shouldn't have had more than a few thousands' worth he was asking for trouble.

By: anigbrowl

anigbrowl — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 17:30:02 -0800

three blind mice, you're off by a factor of 1,000. He was fined ten MILLION euro.

By: Mr_Zero

Mr_Zero — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 17:33:59 -0800

So a fine of €10k is a light slap on the wrist. €10m > €10k

By: angrycat

angrycat — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 17:36:10 -0800

total buzzkill

By: birdherder

birdherder — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 17:41:17 -0800

So a fine of €10k is a light slap on the wrist Which is probably why the fine was €10m. That's a year's worth of revenue if they were clearing 30K a day. It sounds like this place was acting sort of like the liquor stores on the county line adjacent to a dry county and was getting business from tourists coming across or "last chance" or "first chance" buying opportunities at the border. IF the marijuana proposition makes the ballot and passes... and IF the feds let California exercise its state's right to govern maryjane (I expect every Republican member of congress to support California in this regard, there's not a goddamn thing about weed in the Constitution... except I think the original copies were printed on hemp paper). and IF San Bernadino County allows the sale of marijuana... I wonder if there will be a weed store right at the California/Nevada border at Primm that would do something like that. There's a convenience store there right now that is physically in California that will often sell more lottery tickets than any other place in the state. I could see Nevadans and tourists buying dope there and the NHP waiting at the I15 onramp (which is in Nevada) busting people for possession.

By: Saxon Kane

Saxon Kane — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 17:41:27 -0800

I wish the govt. would stop bogarting all the good shit.

By: chillmost

chillmost — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 18:00:52 -0800

Total bullshit.

By: three blind mice

three blind mice — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 18:07:20 -0800

three blind mice, you're off by a factor of 1,000. He was fined ten MILLION euro. Correct. Thank you.

By: digitalprimate

digitalprimate — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 18:10:05 -0800

Lived in A'dam a long time. Everyone knows you go here: http://home.freeuk.net/coffeeshop/TweedeKamer.html

By: three blind mice

three blind mice — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 18:17:38 -0800

I could see Nevadans and tourists buying dope there and the NHP waiting at the I15 onramp (which is in Nevada) busting people for possession. This doesn't happen so much in Germany or Belgium (which border the Netherlands), but it seems the neighboring countries lean on the Dutch to keep their own house in order which may well be the case here. But it will be a problem in the U.S. with Federal acceptance of State practice. Obama told the Feds to lay off medical marijuana - he may not have the same tolerance for recreational use. It will be fun to watch the battle between the Republican "States Rights" brain cell warring against the "Law and Order" brain cell.

By: Cody's Keeper

Cody's Keeper — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 18:31:34 -0800

Am I the only one that reads "10m euros" as 10 milli-euros, or 1 euro-cent? (At least it's not as confusing as the term billion, whose value depends on where you live.)

By: ZenMasterThis

ZenMasterThis — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 18:46:18 -0800

At first I read this as "Dutch coffee shop fined 10 euros..." and thought, "Yeah, that sounds like the Netherlands..."

By: ripley_

ripley_ — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 18:50:22 -0800

(shrug) That's what you get for being greedy. I'm about as pro-legalization as you can get, but if he was storing millions of euros worth when the legal limits say he shouldn't have had more than a few thousands' worth he was asking for trouble. You're "as pro-legalization as you can get" but you have no problem with a law limiting possession to 500g. Odd.

By: Secret Life of Gravy

Secret Life of Gravy — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 18:50:54 -0800

No, you are not the only one. I think it was the small "m" that threw me-- it looks so insignificant. I read the headline like "Dutch Coffee Shop fined $1.00." I only clicked the link to see what kind of crime that would be fined $1.00 is important enough for a FPP.

By: Secret Life of Gravy

Secret Life of Gravy — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 18:54:06 -0800

Boy, my writing is like mush today, and I don't have even have the excuse of being drunk. ...what kind of crime, resulting in a $1.00 fine, is important enough for a FPP.

By: rainy

rainy — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 18:56:21 -0800

To be fair, without getting into the whole kg/g mathematics, 200 is less than 500.

By: ZenMasterThis

ZenMasterThis — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 18:57:56 -0800

200 is greater than 500 for large values of 200.

By: gimonca

gimonca — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 20:04:01 -0800

I could see Nevadans and tourists buying dope there and the NHP waiting at the I15 onramp (which is in Nevada) busting people for possession. A few years ago, when fireworks were still illegal in Minnesota, but you could buy almost anything in Wisconsin, the MN State Patrol used to station guys in unmarked cars to hang around the parking lot in the border town fireworks shops, taking down Minnesota plate numbers. They'd radio back the info to a patrolman on the other side of the river, who'd wait for the car in question to come back over the bridge and pull it over.

By: zardoz

zardoz — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 20:08:16 -0800

Total bullshit. Why, chillmost? A limit of 500g of cannabis for sale seems a fairly reasonable restriction. I imagine it keeps the cafes small and unobtrusive. This guy was definitely in it for the money if he was clearing that much in a day.

By: PeterMcDermott

PeterMcDermott — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 20:55:37 -0800

Everyone knows you go here: http://home.freeuk.net/coffeeshop/TweedeKamer.html I always preferred The Greenhouse or Grey Area myself.

By: Jilder

Jilder — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 00:09:04 -0800

By: infini

infini — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 00:30:15 -0800

the authorities have their own coffeeshop. it has displays on the wall about their legacy and long history. you gotta ask the stn off

By: Kirk Grim

Kirk Grim — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 00:33:40 -0800

This guy was definitely in it for the money if he was clearing that much in a day. You will find that many business owners are in it for the money

By: the_very_hungry_caterpillar

the_very_hungry_caterpillar — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 03:16:16 -0800

wow, like, heavy shit man.

By: ripley_

ripley_ — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 10:36:39 -0800

So, he's clearing 3000 customers a day, with 200kg of weed in the cafe, working out to be about 60g of pot a customer. I don't smoke, but this is more than you would smoke at once, I imagine. He's pushed himself from cafe to dealer really. ...so? Liquor stores tend to sell more than you can drink at once. Grocery stores tend to sell more than you can eat at once. Libraries will lend you more books than you can read at once.

By: ersatz

ersatz — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 12:16:06 -0800

You will find that many business owners are in it for the money The Mothers....

By: telstar

telstar — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 19:57:49 -0800

I always preferred The Greenhouse or Grey Area myself. Katsu is nice. Great cafe/bar on the other side of the square selling Amstel pints, too. One can alternate an afternoon away there easily.