Slog - Comments on There Better Not Be Any Tobacco in That Joint, Kid... http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/there_better_not_be_any_tobacco_in_that Dutch pot cafés are freaking out over the Dutch smoking ban. They argue, and rightfully so, that not enough customers want to smoke pure-pot joints because they're just too goddamned strong. The owners claim the law, which will allow customers to light up potent tobacco-free pure cannabis joints but ban milder spliffs in which tobacco is mixed with cannabis, threatens to put hundreds of them out of business. "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." The Netherlands: Where conservatives... Copyright 2008 Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:14:27 -0800 Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:15:18 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by COMTE Sounds like some of those "cafes" need to convert into "hookah bars".

]]> COMTE http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/there_better_not_be_any_tobacco_in_that#c1063664 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/there_better_not_be_any_tobacco_in_that#c1063664 Drugs Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:31:37 -0800 Comment by Snarky These coffee shop complaints are total BS. Coffee shops could sell non-tobacco shake with their high end product to mix. Or they could produce less potent bud product to mix in. Obviously, the reason people mix with tobacco is they like the tobacco.

]]> Snarky http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/there_better_not_be_any_tobacco_in_that#c1063673 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/there_better_not_be_any_tobacco_in_that#c1063673 Drugs Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:40:20 -0800 Comment by Mahtli69 The weed you find in Amsterdam coffee shops is mostly for American tourists. The Europeans prefer hash, and hash must be mixed with something in order to roll a joint with it. Tobacco is that something.

]]> Mahtli69 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/there_better_not_be_any_tobacco_in_that#c1063677 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/there_better_not_be_any_tobacco_in_that#c1063677 Drugs Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:43:21 -0800 Comment by w7ngman I don't get it. Can't you bring glass pipes into these cafes and smoke only a reasonable amount? #2 is right, these complaints seem like BS.

]]> w7ngman http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/there_better_not_be_any_tobacco_in_that#c1063680 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/there_better_not_be_any_tobacco_in_that#c1063680 Drugs Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:45:29 -0800 Comment by Mahtli69 @2, @4 - It's not an issue of smoking unreasonable amounts. Most of the coffee shops' business is people smoking joints made out of hash and tobacco.

For the most part, only North Americans smoke pot (and by pot, I mean green buds, not hash). I doubt that people are mixing pot with tobacco to dilute the pot.

When the article says cannabis, I'm pretty sure they mean hash.

]]> Mahtli69 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/there_better_not_be_any_tobacco_in_that#c1063689 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/there_better_not_be_any_tobacco_in_that#c1063689 Drugs Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:53:27 -0800 Comment by emily man, i gotta move there one of these days

]]> emily http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/there_better_not_be_any_tobacco_in_that#c1063690 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/there_better_not_be_any_tobacco_in_that#c1063690 Drugs Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:53:52 -0800 Comment by Will in Seattle Just more whiners.

Everyone knows the best choice is special brownies made with high-end organic fair-trade ingredients and a nice coffee ....

]]> Will in Seattle http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/there_better_not_be_any_tobacco_in_that#c1063695 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/there_better_not_be_any_tobacco_in_that#c1063695 Drugs Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:57:42 -0800 Comment by Steve I read this news more than a week ago, in this Bloomberg article (it gives a little more detail):

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=aYnxvXq30UZs&refer=europe

]]> Steve http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/there_better_not_be_any_tobacco_in_that#c1063697 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/there_better_not_be_any_tobacco_in_that#c1063697 Drugs Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:59:13 -0800 Comment by Karlheinz Arschbomber As a frequent flyer in Amsterdam, I am very happy to see tobacco out of there. Snarky@2 is correct, in my non-humble opinion. Tobacco is a deadly addiction. Spliffs (the euro name for 'joints') are just tobacco with a bit of weed or hash put in.

They'll figure something out there. But I'm glad the tobacco is gone. Having seen both my parents suffer and die from the effects of tobacco, it gives me a brutal visceral reaction.

That said, go to Amsterdam in the off-season when the airfare is not nearly as bad, and the British barbarians are not so numerous in the shops. It's a great place to hang out.

]]> Karlheinz Arschbomber http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/there_better_not_be_any_tobacco_in_that#c1063721 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/there_better_not_be_any_tobacco_in_that#c1063721 Drugs Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:28:57 -0800 Comment by flamingbanjo Obviously a business model that includes the extremely addictive tobacco along with the cannabis is going to be hurt when the addictive portion is removed. So the "too strong" complaint seems like kind of a smokescreen -- as somebody else pointed out, how hard would it be to cut it with shake? A hash/dry leaf mix?

This is just the vendors worried about loss of sales. And of course people are always upset when their preferred buzz is curtailed, and a lot of European stoners are pretty into their tobacco/hash buzz.

]]> flamingbanjo http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/there_better_not_be_any_tobacco_in_that#c1063729 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/there_better_not_be_any_tobacco_in_that#c1063729 Drugs Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:48:11 -0800 Comment by max solomon hey, if i could smoke hash instead of buds, i'd do it in a flash - and then i'd be really really high & then i'd go to sleep. but i live in america. hash is hard to come by.

and amsterdam pot is so NOT too strong to smoke in joints. i smoked joints of "john sinclair" for 2 days straight. it's nowhere near the strength of BC "paranoia" bud.

]]> max solomon http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/there_better_not_be_any_tobacco_in_that#c1063736 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/there_better_not_be_any_tobacco_in_that#c1063736 Drugs Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:56:19 -0800 Comment by green bud In Australia, anyway, they smoke green bud mixed with tobacco and they really do have a super low tolerance to it. I finally got my own bag and rolled up a pure joint and all these regular smokers of the mix were laid out flat.

]]> green bud http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/there_better_not_be_any_tobacco_in_that#c1063762 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/there_better_not_be_any_tobacco_in_that#c1063762 Drugs Tue, 01 Jul 2008 14:12:39 -0800 Comment by Will in Seattle max @11 for the win.

Face it, they're just weenies.

]]> Will in Seattle http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/there_better_not_be_any_tobacco_in_that#c1063787 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/there_better_not_be_any_tobacco_in_that#c1063787 Drugs Tue, 01 Jul 2008 14:40:26 -0800 Comment by Fnarf I have to say I'm not real impressed with this "oh, it's OK, we're allowed to violate the smoking ban because it's weed". No smoking means NO SMOKING.

]]> Fnarf http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/there_better_not_be_any_tobacco_in_that#c1063858 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/there_better_not_be_any_tobacco_in_that#c1063858 Drugs Tue, 01 Jul 2008 15:34:32 -0800 Comment by elswinger Who in the hell ruins perfectly good weed with yucky tobacco? Lame!

]]> elswinger http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/there_better_not_be_any_tobacco_in_that#c1063872 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/there_better_not_be_any_tobacco_in_that#c1063872 Drugs Tue, 01 Jul 2008 15:45:19 -0800 Comment by flamingbanjo #14: So, if the rationale for the smoking ban is that second-hand smoke causes cancer, and there are no studies linking second-hand marijuana smoke to cancer, does it still make sense to include marijuana in the smoking ban? Does the ban extend to all substances that produce smoke when burned, or only to one particular type of substance (tobacco?)

]]> flamingbanjo http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/there_better_not_be_any_tobacco_in_that#c1063920 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/there_better_not_be_any_tobacco_in_that#c1063920 Drugs Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:32:25 -0800 Comment by Fnarf The ban is only partly about second-hand smoke. It is also about being PROFOUNDLY IRRITATING. Tobacco smoke is extremely irritating, but so is pot smoke, and frankly so are pot smokers, particularly the kind who are likely to be found in an Amsterdam coffee shop -- the dreadlock-wearing, Bob-Marley-loving kind.

]]> Fnarf http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/there_better_not_be_any_tobacco_in_that#c1063975 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/there_better_not_be_any_tobacco_in_that#c1063975 Drugs Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:13:39 -0800 Comment by flamingbanjo #17: Do you know of any studies regarding the long-term health effects of being profoundly irritated?

]]> flamingbanjo http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/there_better_not_be_any_tobacco_in_that#c1064001 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/there_better_not_be_any_tobacco_in_that#c1064001 Drugs Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:43:02 -0800 Comment by elswinger BTW, where do I have to go to buy weed? I have no one to buy from and it's now been a year and a half. I am not a cop!

]]> elswinger http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/there_better_not_be_any_tobacco_in_that#c1064033 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/there_better_not_be_any_tobacco_in_that#c1064033 Drugs Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:15:18 -0800