Since cannabis remained illegal per se under the existing drug laws, the world of recreational use and commerce was considered a "gray area" that was allowed to exist without legal sanction through the grace of the queen and her government.

But now, as decriminalization and outright legalization of marijuana continue to gain significant numbers of supporters in America and the Western world, the current right-wing government of the Netherlands has for some reason decided that cannabis is bad and "drug tourism" is even worse.

In the past few years since the ascension of the current political ruling coalition (within which the "anti-Islam" party is a driving force), the Dutch government and Parliament have dropped all pretense of reasonableness — sort of like the Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives — and begun to attack the cannabis culture as morally questionable and quite possibly a source of social degeneration.

Particularly scurrilous in their view are the people who come to Holland from other countries around the world to partake in the openness, convenience and relative social freedom of the coffee shop culture in Amsterdam, or those from neighboring EU states such as Germany, France, Belgium and the UK, who come to Holland to cop and take their purchases back home with them.

I had meant to report here on several revolting developments now under way in The Netherlands but got carried away thinking of how great it would be to legalize marijuana in Michigan in 2012. Now I've come to the end of my space and time for this installment so, as my editor frequently says, stay out there, and I'll add, help end marijuana prohibition. 

—Amsterdam

Jan. 13, 2012

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