Pictures by ANRA, photoshops by Peyote Coyote As I have stated before on this website, I have much to thank the cannabis plant

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On Wednesday, March 18, the long wait was finally over. On that day, we would take a flight to Barcelona: the city

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Picture: Andrew Arnett. Story: Andrew Arnett Hanoi, VIETNAM – If you walk down the streets of Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon)

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Eindhoven, June 1st, 2015 – Earlier today around 9.30 in the morning, 4 police officers and one employee of Kusters Facilities busted the office

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Drugs and the romantic movement Industrial and technological advances of the post-Napoleonic “rational age” left many Europeans disenchanted, yearning for deeper spiritual

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On Cannabis Liberation Day itself,  I was too busy with too many things at once to even write a proper review. But

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By Andrew Arnett Beal has never let up the fight, publishing The Yipster Times through the 70’s and 80’s, organizing The Global Marijuana

The post Hippies, Yippies, Zippies and Beatnicks – A Conversation with Dana Beal appeared first on The Stoned Society.

On the production of medicinal cannabis in the Netherlands currently rests a monopoly in the hands of Bedrocan BV, the same company that

The post The turbulent history of medicinal cannabis in the Netherlands appeared first on The Stoned Society.

This is a true story. It’s summer, 2015, and I’m writing this from my new love. First of all, for those who

The post How I fell in love with a Dutch coffeeshop appeared first on The Stoned Society.

Sadly, people afflicted by this psychological parasite are faced with higher rates of employment turnover, increased rates of trips to the emergency

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The Stoned Society turned 3, earlier this year in May. Much has changed since then, including 3 major website updates.

The Stoned Society evolving throughout the years

1 of 3

But the biggest changes started happening ever since we, and in particular our founder Mauro Picavet, got introduced in the Dutch cannabis scene through cannabis legalization NGO VOC Nederland.

And while we produced less content than you may have gotten used to, we made the choice for quality over quantity.

Through local and international activism, the cannabis culture opened up with highlights including a trip to the HIGH TIMES Cannabis Cup in Amsterdam, Spannabis & Dab-A-Doo in Barcelona, the Hanfparade in Berlin, Expogrow in Irun (Basque country) and even a bike tour for cannabis!. But also: courtcases in the Netherlands (Leeuwarden), Hasselt (Belgium), monthly attendings of VOC Nederland meetings and countless days spend traveling the country to talk pot.

And let’s not forget two times Cannabis Liberation Day, first in Antwerp, later in Amsterdam. The latter Mauro actively helped through promoting, running the social media and website, market supervisor (the person between the organization and the companies for the hemp market) and the general problem solver.

Through Cannabis Liberation Day, our network expanded locally, resulting in the new The Stoned Society website 3.0 you are seeing right now. For this, all praise goes to our all new webmaster! Make sure to take a look around and if you find a bug, don’t hesitate to inform us through the comment section below!

Upcoming reviews: VapeXhale, Storm and Dabstorm!

And with a fresh background, next up for The Stoned Society is focusing on a new era with beautiful content, including upcoming immersive journalism pieces, reviews of the extraordinary VapeXhale and (Dab)Storm vaporizers, various grow reports and more!

But we can’t do this on our own. We’re always on the lookout for quality content and thus writers/correspondents, with multiple benefits and possibilities for integrating with the cannabis culture. If this sounds like music to your ears, feel free to reach out to us at editors@thestonedsociety.com and we’ll make sure to get back to you as soon as possible.

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The ENCOD (European Coalition for Just and Effective Drug Policies) General Assembly 2015 in Amsterdam has kicked off today for three days to talk European (cannabis) activism. We are live from the General Assembly, on behalf of The Stoned Society and dutch legalization NGO VOC Nederland.

Delegates from 12 different countries have gathered in Amsterdam, including from VOC Nederland, Hanfparade, Deutscher Hanfverband (DHV), Chanvre & Libertés – NORML France, Trekt Uw Plant, Mambo Social Club, Konopí je lék, o.s., Stichting Legalize Nederland, OverGrow.it and many more!

This year the following issues will be on the agenda: ENCOD internal structure and election of a new steering committee, European coordination of Cannabis Social Clubs and the UNGASS 2016 in New York. For more information, visit the ENCOD website and the General Assembly page.

To listen along, you can tune into the audio livestream by using the embedded player below. To participate in the conversation, you can join in the chat by visiting the page here.

ENCOD is on Mixlr

To join in the conversation on twitter, use the hashtag #encod.

Tweets over #encod

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In the letter, referred is to a new report by Intraval’s 12th report on the state of the coffeeshops, which discusses the results of the twelfth measurement of the monitor of the number of tolerated point of sales of soft drugs (coffeeshops) in The Netherlands and the municipal coffeeshop policy.

Related stories:

• WATCH: Coffeeshop owners speak out
• How I fell in love with a Dutch coffeeshop
• Police bust office of Dutch Cannabis legalization NGO
• These 41 Amsterdam coffeeshops are threatened with closure
• HOLLAND: Amount of coffeeshops decreasing fast
• Shocking Police Brutality in Dutch ‘War on Weed’

Commissioned by the Research and Documentation Centre (WODC) of the Dutch Ministry of Security and Justice, bureau INTRAVAL accurately follows the developments concerning coffeeshops since 1999, using this monitor. For this measurement, a questionnaire has been carried out among the responsible civil servants in the period of March 2015 to April 2015. As in previous measurements, the response is 100%. The monitor has four topics: number of coffeeshops; municipal policy; enforcement policy; and sanctions policy.

Only recently Eindhoven, an important city in the south with an airport, decided to go forward with a 6 month experiment during which tourists are allowed to enter the coffeeshops again.

But these findings are controversial. According to an inventory by the Ministry of Security and Justice, the number of coffeeshop municipalities that has added the I-criterion to the coffeeshops policy is 76%. The I-criterion is better known in as the “Weedpass” or wietpas in Dutch.

This number of 76%, is not being enforced. Only in Maastricht (Limburg), Almere, Zeeland and several cities in North Brabant are still being forced to discriminate.

The main reasons that coffeeshops have disappeared in the past two years are municipalities enforcing a distance criterion, closure due to a negative BIBOB advice (Public Administration Probity Screening Act) and coffeeshops violating the applicable tolerance criteria, leading them to be closed permanently.

These policies are the direct result of the crackdown on cannabis in the Netherlands, initiated by the recently stepped down Minister of Security and Justice, Ivo Opstelten.

Minister Ivo Opstelten and State Secretary Fred Teeven of Security and Justice Teeven (both VVD, Liberal Party), responsible for the weedpass and recent growshop law debacle resigned earlier this year in a press conference.

Opstelten said to bear the full responsibility for the confusion that arose on the settlement of the so-called Teevendeal. Secretary Teeven says he can no longer credibly work as Secretary of State.

The Ministry of Security and Justice had paid 4.7 million gulden (about 2 million euros) to hash baron Cees H., the so-called Teevendeal. Opstelten said earlier to the House that he did not know how much was paid and that there was no evidence of the deal.

And so right now, all these backwards policy changes have yet to reverse or vanish. Until then, the crackdown on cannabis in the Netherlands continues.

When news reaches us on which coffeeshops exactly are going to close, you will be able to find it here on thestonedsociety.com. Also, a heads up to Nol van Schaik for the Intraval report translation. More information on the report you can find here.

The post Amsterdam to close an additional 15 coffeeshops appeared first on The Stoned Society.

I‘m aware I’m going to be getting a lot of shit for this, but I’m going to write this piece anyways. So let me start off with a short introduction.

Personally, I took my first drug at the age of 15,5 during Christmas, when the minimum age requirement to buy alcohol was still 16 in the Netherlands. I tried my first cigarette at the age of 16, but didn’t like it and it never became a habit. Finally cannabis, I tried for the first time at the age of 19 in a student house.

Due to peer pressure, teenagers are actually high likely to attempt experimenting with sex, drugs and alcohol

For most people, the first time they try drugs (alcohol usually first), is somewhere between the age of 14 and 16. Most of them, end up doing just fine later in life (Obama, Clinton, etc…). And yes, there will always be a group that doesn’t end up well, but it arguably has more to do with the situation at home and not the drug. (Just because you can kill someone with a kitchen knife doesn’t mean we should ban kitchen knives, right?)

Drug education at schools has mostly been about condemning drug use in general (if there is any at all), but it hasn’t stopped teenagers from experimenting. Due to peer pressure, teenagers are actually high likely to start experimenting with sex, drugs and alcohol.

And while this raises concerns about drugs influencing developing brains, the argument does not calculate the risk of teenagers having to reach out to the uncontrolled black market. A dealer does not take into account you shouldn’t immediately go for the strongest pot, or any other drugs for that matter.

My home country, the Netherlands, used to have the minimum age requirement to buy cannabis at 16, until 1994 when they changed it to 18. Just like alcohol, which they only recently (2014) changed to 18 and is actually causing underage drug use to spike.

Unlike the United States, where the minimum age requirement to buy alcohol is 21. And underage binge drinking is raging rampant across the country.

So, what is the solution?

Studies have shown underage drinking is far worse for developing brains than cannabis use. And because we’re on a cannabis website, we’re going to stick to the pot argument.

Under a regulated cannabis program, teenagers should be allowed to buy cannabis at the age of 16. But just like the minimum age requirement used to be 16 for beer and 18 for hard liquor in the Netherlands, stronger versions of pot, whether it be edibles, hash concentrates (dabs) or strains known for their potency, should only be allowed to be sold to you when you have passed the 21 mark. So what’s left? Organicly grown cannabis, with a healthy balance of cannabinoids (like THC and CBD) which will not ruin your life.

The post OPINION: Age requirement to buy pot should be 16, not 18 or 21 appeared first on The Stoned Society.

Text: by Andrew Arnett. Pictures: @AndrewArnett.

The first New York City Cannabis Film Festival took place on September 26th at the Wythe Hotel in Brooklyn, New York.

This ground breaking festival kicked off appropriately at 4:20 p.m.(…)

This ground breaking festival kicked off appropriately at 4:20 p.m. and though no smoking was allowed, our host The Sucklord reminded all to eat some free popcorn and “if you ask nicely, someone might infuse it for you.”

The festival featured seven short films and one full length documentary.

The films consisted of an eclectic mix of cartoons, music videos, and narratives.

Outstanding amongst the shorts was The Lotus Gun, a 25-minute sci-fi set in a 2077 post-apocalyptic world where guns are no longer allowed. A pair of pot smoking girls are pitted against a meth-like drug gobbling gang of crazies in this pulp future western that ends in a genre fitting showdown.

I also thoroughly enjoyed the music video Straight Outta Gotham, a NWA style Batman mash-up featuring a host of Gotham’s villains including a blunt toking Joker.

Another standout was Rolling with the Kings. Both entertaining and educational, this short film demonstrates some truly creative rolling techniques, accompanied by an exceptional soundtrack.

The featured film was a 63-minute documentary by Zach Klein called The Scientist, about the life of Dr. Raphael Mechoulam.

Dr. Mechoulam, along with colleagues Dr. Yehiel Gaoni and Dr. Haviv Edery, were the first to isolate D9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)

Dr. Mechoulam, along with colleagues Dr. Yehiel Gaoni and Dr. Haviv Edery, were the first to isolate D9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis.

Director Zach Klein had unprecedented access to Dr. Mechoulam as the film traces the good doctors life from his early years as a child of the Holocaust to his current position as professor of medicinal chemistry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Mechoulam’s ground breaking work includes discovering how THC interacts with the human bodies endocannabinoid system. Finding that the human brain produces its own form of cannabis, his team coined the newly discovered chemical anandamide, from the Sanskrit word ananda, meaning “bliss.”

The New York City Cannabis Film Festival is the brain child of High NY, a cannabis awareness meet up group in New York run by Mike Zaytsev and Tim Mattson.

Aevent, I spoke to both Mike and Tim about the film festival and goals of the High NY community.

ARNETT: What is High NY?

As the legal cannabis industry evolves, we want to make sure that authentic cannabis culture and values are preserved

MIKE ZAYTSEV: High NY was started in 2014 to bring the successful community building and innovation techniques from the NYC tech scene to the cannabis industry. Our model was New York Tech Meetup. There is no shortage of talented, creative people in New York who love cannabis. However, there was no safe, public forum for those people to meet and gather. High NY exists to give the community a place to meet, exchange ideas, collaborate, and ultimately facilitate innovation. Our focus is to empower leaders to move this industry forward in a responsible way. The goal is to support leaders and entrepreneurs who are passionate about cannabis and view it as a technology which can create massive positive impact globally. As the legal cannabis industry evolves, we want to make sure that authentic cannabis culture and values are preserved.

ARNETT: How did this cannabis film festival come about?

TIM MATTSON: Mike and I were sitting around talking about High NY, ways to get us out of the box. I have done many film festivals before and I figured hey, why not do a film festival. No one else is doing a cannabis film festival so why not us and might as well get on it while the iron is hot, or whatever, because otherwise we’re gonna miss out.

ARNETT: You mention you’ve had experience organizing film festivals before.

TIM MATTSON: Yes, I’ve done the Mohegan Lake Film Festival. In the 1990’s I was part of the Olympia Film Festival in Olympia, Washington, which is where I’m from. I used to be the animation film programmer there. I had my start on radio in Olympia, where we played music from Kill Rock Stars and K Records.

ARNETT: What qualifies as a cannabis film?

TIM MATTSON: It is not a genre. It can defy genres if it wants. The whole point with it is that it could have a reference, it could have smoking in it, or it could be a film that’s for when you get high. There’s no cannabis reference in the film, but it is fun to watch while stoned.

ARNETT: Like the Wizard of Oz?

TIM MATTSON: Right. If it fits within our theme we’ll take it .

ARNETT: Tell me more about High NY?

People are often surprised by how diverse our audience is

MIKE ZAYTSEV: High NY is made up of warm, talented, creative people. I’m constantly amazed by the friendliness and openness of our community. Everyone is always willing to help each other and we have so many generous volunteers who help because they deeply believe that cannabis will change the world. People are often surprised by how diverse our audience is. It’s beautiful to see people from all walks of life come together and share their experiences to honor the plant. We’ve recently started attracting more and more people who don’t use cannabis, but simply see prohibition as wrong and impractical.

ARNETT: What are the greatest obstacles to cannabis legalization today?

We have to lead by example –by having the sometimes tough conversations with our friends, family, etc.

MIKE ZAYTSEV: A number of things come to mind, but I think fear is the greatest obstacle. Many people outside of cannabis culture are grossly under-educated or worse, miseducated about this plant and it’s many virtues. People are afraid of change, especially if they’ve lived their whole lives being told that this plant is a dangerous drug that destroys the fabric of society. There are also various corporate interests that fear their profits will be disrupted by legalization. Also, I think many “average cannabis consumers” –if there is such a thing– are afraid to publicly embrace their cannabis use. If the people who love this plant and benefit from it all the time are not willing to use their voice and energy to steer those outside of cannabis culture to the truth, it’s a huge issue. We have to lead by example –by having the sometimes tough conversations with our friends, family, etc. That’s how we can raise awareness, show people the facts, undo the stigma around cannabis, and ultimately end prohibition.

For more information go to High NY.

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The appeal in the case against Doede De Jong on October 15 will be submitted to the court of Leeuwarden (Netherlands) and has the potential to achieve a sensible government policy on the ‘paradox of the backdoor’, according to Dutch legalization NGO VOC Nederland.

Related stories:

• Amsterdam to close an additional 15 coffeeshops
• WATCH: Coffeeshop owners speak out
• How I fell in love with a Dutch coffeeshop
• Police bust office of Dutch Cannabis legalization NGO
• HOLLAND: Amount of coffeeshops decreasing fast
• Shocking Police Brutality in Dutch ‘War on Weed’

it is due to conflicting government policies on cannabis this sort of cases still make it to court

If the court follows the developments of other recent similar cases, it could conclude that relatively small, transparent functioning growers who are not focused on only making huge profits, although punishable by law, will have no punishment imposed. According to court rulings, it is due to conflicting government policies on cannabis this sort of cases still make it to court.

VOC Nederland hopes considerable attention from the press and public. The hundreds of millions costing hunt on cannabis growers needs to stop. New legislation as a result of the case law can do a constitute step.

cannabis is sold in coffeeshops, but any kind of cultivation is prohibited

Doede de Jong (64) was sentenced on April 25, 2014 to two months suspended prison sentence, one hundred hours of community service and a confiscation order of € 233,282.60 ($ 265 615.57). That amount is based on estimates, assumptions and projections, which do not do justice to reality. If the claim becomes reality for Doede and his wife Kicky, they will loose their farm they have been living at for 45 years.

Doede de Jong fights for self-determination rights and against the hypocritical Dutch policy, whereby cannabis is sold in coffeeshops, but any kind of cultivation is prohibited.

VOC Nederland calls on everyone to come to the court in Leeuwarden (Wilhelminaplein 1, starting at 14:30) on October 15 and support Doede.

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Text and pictures: Andrew Arnett (@AndrewArnett).

MAPS was established in 1986 with the goal of getting MDMA approval by the FDA for medicinal purposes and continues to push for legalization of marijuana and psychedelics as prescription drugs in therapy.

Rick is recognized as one of the leaders in psychedelics research

Rick is recognized as one of the leaders in psychedelics research and is featured in Tom Schroder’s book Acid Test: LSD, Ecstasy, and the Power to Heal.

He has studied with Dr. Stanislav Grof and has conducted numerous studies on psychedelics including The Good Friday Experiment, focusing on the link between psychedelics and religious experiences, as well as conducting a follow-up study to Timothy Leary’s Concord Prison Experiment.

The Horizons conference was held over a three day period in three different locations including the New School for Social Research. Founded and directed by Kevin M. Baltick and presented by Horizons Media, Inc. in association with the Beckley Foundation, the Drug Policy Alliance, and the Erowid Center. Over 700 people attended the ground breaking event. Featured speakers included Robin Carter-Harris, MA, Ph.D., author Daniel Pinchbeck, Michael P. Bogenschutz, M.D., Draulio Barros de Araujo, PhD and Rick Doblin.

ARNETT: What is MAPS doing with marijuana research now?

DOBLIN: We got a 2.1 million dollar grant from the state of Colorado for marijuana PTSD research. We’re just getting ready to get the final DEA approval. It will be with John Hopkins, and we’re trying to break the government monopoly on the production of marijuana. The grant is contingent on all the final approvals. The state of Colorado gave away 8 million dollars for marijuana research and we got 2.1 million of that.

ARNETT: It appears that we are in the midst of a psychedelic renaissance. What do you think is the catalyst for this?

DOBLIN: The failure of mainstream psychopharmacology and the fact that these drugs do so much. They’ve been around thousands of years. MDMA and LSD are new but they are still part of this tradition. But the other part is the changing attitude towards drug policy. But what really did it was a group of people at the FDA starting in 1992 where we had an advisory committee meeting, and they decided to put the science before the politics and permit psychedelics research and marijuana research. That’s the driving force, people at the FDA saying yeah, we will permit research.

ARNETT: You advocate the use of psychedelics in psychotherapy. What would the role of the psychiatrist be in this process?

DOBLIN: The way we have the Boulder study right now is that, the DEA only gives licenses for Schedule 1 drugs to psychiatrists so, in the study, the principal investigator is the psychologist.  We have a psychiatrist, who has the Schedule 1 licenses, he comes in the morning, he gives the MDMA, then he leaves. He’s not even there. That leaves the psychologist and a student. So, I see the psychiatrist could be key because they’ll probably be the ones that end up, sort of, running a psychedelic clinic and have bunches of psychologists working there. We’re having this meeting coming up on Friday with Paul Summergrad. Were you at the APA conference by any chance?

ARNETT: No.

DOBLIN: Well, the amazing part is the President of the American Psychiatric Association showed, well first off he presented a three hour session on psychedelic psychotherapy and then he permitted us to buy a table in the exhibit hall with all the big pharmaceutical companies to talk about MAPS. But more importantly, he showed this movie of him interviewing Ram Dass. This guy’s head of psychiatry at Tufts, head of the American Psychiatric Association and he’s right about to retire because you retire as President right after the conference and they pick a new one for the next year. So he talks about when he was 19 years old he did LSD and it totally changed his life and it led to him becoming a psychiatrist and he kind of kept that quiet and here he’s now at the peak of his credibility. More and more psychiatrists are getting into this. The last few presidents of the APA have talked about their use of psychedelics so it’s becoming more common place.

ARNETT: Is there an unpredictability to psychedelics which makes them hard to manage?

DOBLIN: That’s the beauty of it, because you can’t predict it. So what happens is that you have an open supportive attitude, a non directive attitude and who knows what’s going to come up . I mean that’s the problem if you’re taking it in a recreational setting for fun because you can’t like say ‘I’m just going to have fun.’  But if you are doing it in a therapy setting, the unpredictability of it is what gets people out of their rigid patterns that they’ve used to defend themselves.

ARNETT: Does that mean you think that psychedelics should only be utilized in a clinically supervised environment?

“You have to be willing to go wherever it goes, you know?”

DOBLIN: I think that it’s more dangerous in a recreational setting than in a clinical setting, but I think that it’s appropriate to use in these celebratory settings. You have to be willing to go wherever it goes, you know? So we come to people who have taken MDMA for fun at raves, and they remember trauma and then they’re with friends and they think ‘if I’m going to tell my friends about it they’re going to think it’s not fun. Then they try to stop their feelings and they end up worst than before. But if you’re open to what ever happens then the recreational setting can be communal. I mean, people have done that for thousands of years . Again, the ceremonies are group ceremonies.

ARNETT: What made you decide to continue the Concord Prison Experiment? Did you know Timothy Leary?

DOBLIN: Yeah, I knew him. I have a favorite photo of me and him. But the reason that I wanted to do the Concord Experiment was because that is one of the best studies in the whole scientific literature, I thought.

ARNETT: It showed psilocybin had positive results on recidivism rates amongst inmates.

DOBLIN: Yeah, but then when I did the follow up I discovered that he fudged the data. You should read the follow up I did to Concord, it’s on our MAPS website. It is in the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs.

ARNETT: Was Leary good or bad for psychedelic research?

DOBLIN:  I think he did more good than harm. But I think he was irresponsible in a lot of ways and I felt that there’s something sacred about science and you shouldn’t fudge your science. But I think he felt that there was so much propaganda coming from the other way that was exaggerating the risks and denying the benefits, that he could exaggerate the benefits and minimize the risks. But I don’t think that that’s appropriate in science.

The post On the MAPS: Interview with Rick Doblin appeared first on The Stoned Society.

Picture: Johan van Laarhoven and his wife Tukta during better times (via justiceforjohan.nl).

According to the Bangkok court Van Laarhoven is guilty of laundering millions of euros he earned with four coffeeshops in Den Bosch and Tilburg. Johan’s brother Frans van Laarhoven told local broadcaster Omroep Brabant:

“The world collapses beneath your feet. Firstly, we maintain that Johan is innocent. He has paid taxes on all the money he has invested, with the best intentions, in Thailand, a country close to his heart. Our accountants and fiscal experts have proven this beyond doubt. When you hear the verdict, you simply can’t believe it. You think: this can not exist. The world stops for a moment.”
“The worst thing is that the Thai judge indicated in his verdict that there really is no evidence that Johan has done anything wrong in Thailand. He has invested in Thailand and he has transferred money from various accounts. To get a jail sentence like this… I’m overcome.”

In an interview with NRC/Handelsblad newspaper Frans van Laarhoven declared:

“It’s outrageous that the Thai court did not in any way take into account all the evidence our lawyers presented. This evidence shows that taxes were paid on every euro that was earned in the coffeeshops in the Netherlands. He could not be prosecuted for any criminal fact in the Netherlands, so they covertly rendered him up to Thailand. My brother feels extremely let down by the Dutch politicians and the media.”

Sidney Smeets, one of Johan’s lawyers responded via Twitter:

“Terrible news from #Bangkok. Much strength to Johan and his family. A false and wrongful conviction. The Van Laarhoven case shows how the Dutch government surrenders its citizens to the whims of military regimes. The incomprehensibility of the tolerance policy now results in 20 years prison for Van Laarhoven for ‘laundering’ money on which taxes have been paid.”

Smeets’ colleague Tim Vis told newspaper De Telegraaf:

“This is terrible news for Johan van Laarhoven and his family. But while the verdict is to be regretted, the issue is not settled yet. From the outset, the defense has indicated that Thailand is not the place to deal with this matter. Because of the dubious and resentful actions of the Dutch public prosecutor Van Laarhoven was rendered up to a judge who has not been able to sufficiently assess the monstrosity that is the Dutch cannabis policy. This is apparent from the questions that the judge asked even in the reading of the verdict.” A decision about a possible appeal is yet to be taken, said Vis. “We will, in close consultation with the Thai lawyers, discuss an appeal or a transfer of criminal enforcement. We look towards the Dutch criminal case with confidence, the prosecution will have to answer for these Thai developments in a Dutch court of law.”

Chief Prosecutor Charles van der Voort called the verdict “perfectly understandable” in NRC/Handelsblad newspaper. Van der Voort: “Each country has its own criminal laws and merits and whether too heavy a punishment was given in this case, I do not wish to comment on.” Van Der Voort declared he is “happy” about the cooperation with his Thai peers. “Van Laarhoven was sentenced in accordance with the agreements on the laundering of drug money to the extent that they took place in Thailand and not for drug trafficking. We will complete the investigation into money laundering that happened in the Netherlands and will take into account the penalty imposed upon Van Laarhoven in Thailand.”

The VOC (Union for the abolition of cannabis prohibition) remains committed to a fair trial for Johan van Laarhoven in the Netherlands and immediate repatriation to the Netherlands. Extensive information about the Van Laarhoven case and VOC’s Justice for Johan campaign: www.justiceforjohan.nl

For more, watch this excellent video report on the case van Laarhoven: Dutch Drug Policy Reaches New Low.

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by Walter Noons on November 8, 2015

For the purpose of declassifying cannabis from the Controlled Substance Act, it serves the objectives of the re-legalization movement to have remain Schedule I drug, rather than rescheduling it as a Schedule II drug.

Why, you may ask?

Cannabis became a Schedule I drug in the 1970, when Congress passed the Controlled Substance Act, which was signed by President Richard Nixon. The act established the schedules by which drugs would be classified and temporarily listed marijuana as a Schedule I substance, subject to review. The administration then formed a commission to study marijuana and advise the administration on where it should be permanently placed.

The commission acknowledged that marijuana was less a serious threat to public health than a sensitive social issue and recommended changes to federal law that would permit citizens to possess a small amount of it at a time, while still maintaining that the drug should not be legalized.

The commission’s approach to drug policy didn’t resonate with many Americans or politicians at that time, who were far more concerned about the potential societal ills that could strike if marijuana use was left unfettered — an attitude that was partially based in racism and in providing Richard Nixon with a weapon to combat the Anti-War Movement.

So, Cannabis became a Schedule I, which means:

The drug or other substance has a high potential for abuse.

The drug or other substance has no currently accepted medical treatment use in the U.S.

There is a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug or substance under medical supervision.

Since then, Cannabis has been grouped along with other Schedule I drugs such as Heroin, LSD, Mescaline, MDMA, GBH, Ecstacy, Psilocybin, Methaqualone, Khat and Bath Salts.

Leaving aside for the moment the inappropriateness of several of the drugs being listed above as being properly identified in Schedule I, the value in Cannabis being defined as a Schedule I drug underscores the ludicrousness and inappropriateness of said classification in light of forty-five years of evidence to the contrary.

Now comes Hillary Clinton who is recommending that Cannabis should become a Schedule II drug, which according to the CSA means:

The drug or other substance has a high potential for abuse.

The drug or other substance has a currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States or a currently accepted medical use with severe restrictions.

Abuse of the drug or other substances may lead to severe psychological or physical dependence.

Other Schedule II drugs include: combination products with less than 15 milligrams of hydrocodone per dosage unit (Vicodin), cocaine, methamphetamine, methadone, hydromorphone (Dilaudid), meperidine (Demerol), oxycodone (OxyContin), fentanyl, Dexedrine, Adderall, and Ritalin.

The result of such an inappropriate and clinically unsupportable re-classification would codify cannabis as a dangerous drug and would, for all intents and purposes, end the likelihood of Cannabis every becoming a Schedule V drug:

The drug or other substance has a low potential for abuse relative to the drugs or other substances in schedule IV

The drug or other substance has a currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States.

Abuse of the drug or other substance may lead to limited physical dependence or psychological dependence relative to the drugs or other substances in schedule IV.

However it would be far more appropriate that Cannabis be removed completely from being classified within the CSA and should instead be placed within the pharmacopoeia along other useful and beneficial homeopathic plants.

The post Thoughts on Hillary Clinton’s recent cannabis remarks appeared first on The Stoned Society.

Arriving at Green House Kitchen, next to the Green House coffeeshop on Haarlemmerstraat, peeking inside will reveal a bio-organic, hipsteresque restaurant you are bound to find plentiful in cities like Amsterdam, but could very well be in New York too. And that’s where the strength of this concept comes into play.

While there have been attempts by coffeeshops to serve food for their munchies seeking customers, there have only been a few coffeeshops successfully been able to do so. But unless your date is a smoker too, you won’t easily take them to a coffeeshop. But a Vape and Dine? More likely. In fact, hungry people seeking to still their needs, filled up the rest of the restaurant with many of them new to the concept of vaping.

To Vape and Dine, you’re not required to vape cannabis. Passionflower, Rosemary, Thyme, Lime Leaf and Peppermint were available to vape too, in addition to the Pure Kush, Lavender Kush and Super Lemon Haze cannabis strains. Normally, you’ll have to bring your own cannabis, but for this evening we were the lucky few.

And so I decided to sit down somewhere in the middle of the table, next to one of the two VapeXhale vaporizers available for the evening. We’re currently in the middle of a VapeXhale review ourselves, so it was a pleasant surprise to find a familiar device.

Of course, it wouldn’t take long before we fired it up and started sampling some of the available herbs.

In the short introduction that followed before we started off with the appetizers, we were explained the concept and the multiple diet options. While a meat lover will be able to still it’s hunger with one of the meat or fish dishes, vegetarians, vegans and even gluten free options are available if that is what you please.

Personally, I stuck to the vegetarian option, skipping meat and fish dishes.

Included below is a slideshow of some of the dishes that were consumed throughout the evening (pictures by Vaposhop).

Green House Kitchen Tasting Menu

1 of 8

Having spend the evening vaping, eating, drinking and sharing a laugh with colleagues and friends, it was somewhere after the main course I found myself feeling the atmosphere in the room.

For a moment, I was engulfed by the high faces and happy smiles around me.

To conclude, I very much enjoyed this evening and the Vape and Dine concept.

The whole experience, felt like something from the 21st century

While I’ve had dinner at a coffeeshop before, this experience stands out in that there was no rolling of joints going on. No ashtrays required, tobacco flying around and the general mess that goes with smoking cannabis. And while I’m not a big fan of mixing cannabis with other herbs (the Pure Kush was too good for that), I believe this concept is a solid attempt at changing the way not only we, but also the mainstream looks at cannabis consumption. The whole experience, felt like something from the 21st century, whereas coffeeshops are a thing of the 20th century and thus (perhaps) the past.

I too hope we will see this concept being exploited by entrepreneurs in other places. There’s a law against smoking inside, but there was no smoke to be found, just vapor.

Last but not least, I would like to thank Vaposhop and Azarius for the invite and Green House Kitchen for this wonderful evening. If you’re in Amsterdam and looking for a place to eat, you now know where to be: Haarlemmerstraat 62, 1013 ES, Amsterdam.

The post Vape and Dine: A Glimpse of the Future? appeared first on The Stoned Society.