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From: goddard@rochester.UUCP (Nigel Goddard)
Newsgroups: net.legal,net.med
Subject: Re: Where are drugs (opiates) legal?
Message-ID: <15448@rochester.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 20-Feb-86 13:06:46 EST
Article-I.D.: rocheste.15448
Posted: Thu Feb 20 13:06:46 1986
Date-Received: Sun, 23-Feb-86 19:13:25 EST
References: <156@proper.UUCP> <32@pixdoc.UUCP>
Reply-To: goddard@rochester.UUCP (Nigel Goddard)
Organization: U. of Rochester, CS Dept.
Lines: 41
Keywords: drugs, opiates, heroin, morphine
Xref: linus net.legal:2701 net.med:3284

In article <32@pixdoc.UUCP> vsh@pixdoc.UUCP (Steve Harris) writes:
>This week's Boston Globe magazine has an article about Heineken (sp?)
>beer in the Netherlands.  It comments that hashish and marajuana are
>available over the counter and is served in some nightclubs.

This is true, at least in Amsterdam.  As I understand it (I lived there
for three years), it is strictly illegal to sell hash or grass, but the
city knows it can't stop the trade so it regulates it.  If a cafe wants
to trade it has to get a licence from the city, which is revoked if any
harder drug trading is discovered.  There are many cafes all over the
central city selling hash and grass, most having these rules:

	1. No alcohol
	2. No hard drugs
	3. No aggravation or violence

These places have in my opinion a much more pleasant atmosphere than
the bars, being quieter and more relaxed.  Typically people are sitting
around drinking coffee, talking and listening to the music, and often
there is a back room containing a VCR.

I think it is legal to be found in possession of small (1/2 ounce ?)
amounts of hash or grass, in Amsterdam and maybe other parts of Holland.
But the practical effect is that the user and licenced cafes have
nothing to worry about, while private traders may have more trouble.
Any activity concerning hard drugs is not legal or safe practically.

It was the case for a while, and may still be the case, that possession
of small amounts of hash/grass was legal in Spain.  Legalisation was
undertaken by the new Socialist government (whenever that happened).

Nigel Goddard


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