[420 Girl]

Cannabis smokers are feeling dazed and confused after a Dutch smoking law effectively banned tobacco from being used in joints.

Millions of people flock to Amsterdam's "coffee shops" every year to legally buy cannabis and hashish over the counter and to smoke it without fear of arrest, as long as they are on the premises.

But the new law bans tobacco inside cafés and restaurants, meaning cannabis users are now forced to light up potent and heady pipes and joints loaded with pure marijuana.

Sophie, a 20-year-old student from Manchester, did not enjoy the experience of smoking neat "skunk", a powerful cannabis hybrid blamed for higher rates of mental illness among some drug users.

"This stuff is much stronger than we are used to back at home. We were off our heads too quickly and I have been very sick," she said.

Olli, a young Swedish tourist, described how the tobacco ban was driving smokers onto the streets and spoiling the coffee shop experience.

"It has always been about being with other people inside the café. It is not the same standing outside in the street," he said. "If it is pure it is more expensive and it gives you a cough."

Many coffee shop owners and staff fear that the new restrictions will hit a trade estimated to have a turnover of £1.6 million every year.

The mood in De Tweede Kamer, a famous "quality" coffee shop just off Amsterdam's leafy Spui Square, was angry.

Frank, the bar manager, argued that the new restrictions would drive many cannabis smokers onto the streets and outside the law.

"A lot of people can not cope with smoking pure and cough their lungs out," he said.

"But it is illegal to smoke cannabis outside in the streets. They are creating a social vacuum. It could be a smart way of making it illegal."'

Peter, a middle aged Dutchman, blamed Christian politicians, making up the coalition government, for a backdoor attempt to close down coffee shops.

"It is a Christian Taliban. They want to impose a Christian ideology on the Netherlands. These are people who still think women are second class citizens."

The Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority has trained 200 inspectors to detect the difference between a "mixed or a pure joint".

Mark Jacobsen, chairman of the BCD, a nationwide association of coffee shop owners, said: "It's absurd. In other countries they look to see whether you have marijuana in your cigarette, here they'll look to see if you've got cigarette in your marijuana."

http://www.420magazine.com/forums/in...-confused.html