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Cannabis trade at all-time high in Holland

* Coffee shops in the Netherlands prosper amid global financial crisis

While businesses all around the world are struggling in these difficult times, it’s boom time for one type of establishment in Amsterdam. The coffee shops, for which the city has become famous, are full and doing brisk trade in carry-out cannabis and, for the more indulgent, ‘smoke-in’ spliffs. “Business is good. The tougher the economical situation is, the more we’re selling, because more people need to relax from stressful situations,” said Co, a manager at Amsterdam’s Abraxas coffee shop, who did not want his full name revealed. There is only one major restraint for the passing puffer: The joint has to be pure. The Netherlands passed a tobacco-smoking ban July 1, putting it in line with many other European countries. But Holland’s stance on cannabis, marijuana and the like is unique: Coffee shops are allowed to possess up to half a kilo of the so-called soft drugs. They can legally sell 5 grams per customer — law enforcement looks the other way as long as the coffee shops keep to these rules. There are about 780 such coffee shops all over the country, almost 200 in Amsterdam, and despite the global credit crisis, people are flocking to them from far and wide to ‘chill out’. “People are much more bothered by the nonsmoking ban, which was forced on us last summer, than they are by the financial crisis, which has hit Holland, too,” Co said. “After the smoking ban was imposed we’ve seen a drop in sales of drinks and beverages, because the socializing factor is gone. More and more customers buy the drugs and take them home rather than staying at the coffee shop and have a smoke over a drink.” “I believe people will save on big things, like a new car or a new TV set, but they won’t save on soft drugs.” According to Co, “In times of crisis, you treat yourself to small luxuries.” It’s an argument that Max Daniel, head of the Dutch government agency in charge of cracking down on cannabis, says is true. “The tougher the times, the more the drug business is thriving.” ap

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