3 ms·

It's funny, I was in Amsterdam this year and different from the experience of most of my international visitors, the whole place felt restrictive in terms of ma

It's funny, I was in Amsterdam this year and different from the experience of most of my international visitors, the whole place felt restrictive in terms of marijuana, not liberated. Denver, Portland, Seattle, Vancouver / Victoria (Canada) and parts of California now have what I believe to be much more liberal "marijuana cultures" than Amsterdam now. Vancouver literally has hundreds of marijuana dispensaries in its downtown even though pot is still technically illegal in Canada (for now.) The Dutch coffeeshop model was cutting edge back in the 90's when no one else was doing it, but as you said it's incredibly outdated compared to the explosion of high quality dispensaries we are seeing across the Pacific coastal areas of Canada and the U.S.

pmoriarty 10y ago
I don't know about that. The dispensaries in California only allow sale to people for medicinal purposes, and only with permission from a doctor. California has recently legalized marijuana possession for non-medical (recreational) use, but there's still no legal way today to sell marijuana in California for non-medical purposes (though that should be coming in a couple of years). Meanwhile, in the Netherlands you didn't need permission from a doctor or anyone else to buy marijuana from a coffeshop. Recreational marijuana use was implicitly sanctioned -- something that most of the United States still has a problem with (though a handful of states are changing their mind). Then there's the Federal laws against any kind of marijuana use, a very hard-headed, close-minded policy that forbids even the use of purely medicinal marijuana derivatives without psychoactive effects, much less recreational use. Finally, there's the issue of drug testing, which no states (to my knowledge) have opposed. So you could still be effectively be prevented from using marijuana if you have to submit to drug tests or anti drug policies at your place of work.
- kelseydh 10y ago
  I will clarify that most of my experience is with the Pacific Northwest of U.S. and Canada, most of which now enjoys defacto legalization driven in part by the medical loophole.

pmoriarty 10y ago

I don't know about that. The dispensaries in California only allow sale to people for medicinal purposes, and only with permission from a doctor. California has recently legalized marijuana possession for non-medical (recreational) use, but there's still no legal way today to sell marijuana in California for non-medical purposes (though that should be coming in a couple of years). Meanwhile, in the Netherlands you didn't need permission from a doctor or anyone else to buy marijuana from a coffeshop. Recreational marijuana use was implicitly sanctioned -- something that most of the United States still has a problem with (though a handful of states are changing their mind). Then there's the Federal laws against any kind of marijuana use, a very hard-headed, close-minded policy that forbids even the use of purely medicinal marijuana derivatives without psychoactive effects, much less recreational use. Finally, there's the issue of drug testing, which no states (to my knowledge) have opposed. So you could still be effectively be prevented from using marijuana if you have to submit to drug tests or anti drug policies at your place of work.

kelseydh 10y ago
I will clarify that most of my experience is with the Pacific Northwest of U.S. and Canada, most of which now enjoys defacto legalization driven in part by the medical loophole.