I’m sure you’re all aware that Amsterdam is known as the cannabis capital of the world. The famous coffee shops and booming weed tourism industry make Amsterdam synonymous with cannabis. If anyone has visited you will be fully aware that Amsterdam is a paradise for weed enthusiasts. However, do we know how this happened? So many parts of the world are anti-cannabis, how did this one city in the Netherlands become such a hash haven? Has it always been so hip and liberal or has it, like many other parts of the world, had a strange and fraught history with drugs? What led to Amsterdam being the cannabis capital?
Self-Determination
The attitude towards drugs in Amsterdam is not a modern or recent thing. The general attitude and lifestyle surrounding the city have been going for centuries. This open and accepting attitude has been around since the Middle Ages. This was not particularly aimed at drugs, but really towards general freedom. The idea of self-determination and that people are capable, and have the right to, make their own decisions. This means that the residents of the Netherlands were free to worship how they wanted, believe what they wanted, and live their lives how they wanted. During this time Europe was not the most chill place in the world, and so what the Netherlands was doing was partly reactionary and entirely groundbreaking.
Europe was having a hard time when it came to politics and religion, especially as it came into the 1500s. This was the era of the Reformation and the continent was torn apart by religious dissent. Protestantism and Catholicism were at each other’s throats. For the Dutch, the rejection of Catholicism made a lot of sense. They didn’t care for the excessive displays of wealth and privilege as well as the shame and control that came with the Catholic religious model. They had no interest in accepting the rule of an external authority.
The Dutch then rebelled against the brutality of the Spanish Inquisition so in 1581 they broke away from the Catholic rule and became independent. Bills came in that allowed for religious freedom, the first law of this kind in Europe. Amsterdam in particular was a haven of free-thinking and political/religious autonomy. As religious and political oppression spread throughout Europe more and more refugees fled to Holland. This was largely due to the rapid spread of Jewish prosecution throughout Europe as well as the many Protestants who were fleeing from the oppressive Catholic rule. There were also a lot of people coming from North Africa, South America, the Middle East, Indonesia and the Caribbean. Many of these places boasted the original landrace strains. This quickly caused Amsterdam to become one of the largest and most thriving marketplaces.
Refugees came from all over the world to Amsterdam and contributed to one of the fastest expanding economies in Europe at the time. Of course, while people were coming in from all over the place cannabis was bound to make its way into the booming marketplaces of Amsterdam. In the 16th and 17th century the multi-cultural and bustling society that was Amsterdam was still growing and still believed in freedom and self-determination.
How Did Cannabis Come Into It?
Originally the Netherlands had very similar drug laws to the rest of the world. After the 1911 international Opium convention, Holland followed suit in 1919 banning all high addiction drugs. The continued until the 1970s when the government decided to clearly distinguish which drugs were considered dangerous and therefore illegal. This also took into account substance control, all drugs were controlled but some were illegal and some were not. By 1976 this was clear in the sense that some drugs were dangerous and had a high risk of addiction, like heroin or cocaine, and some were safe if quality-controlled like hash and cannabis. These laws were finalised in 1980 when it was announced that cannabis and hashish offences were not to be prosecuted under certain circumstances.
While all of this official business was going on there was a group known as the Provo Movement active in Amsterdam. These groups very much held onto the idea that Amsterdam was a city of freedom and liberty. They used public and performance arts to challenge laws and campaigned for some of the laws to be relaxed. It is because of these activists that Amsterdam ended up with coffee shops. After these shops started opening the government stepped in to make sure everything was under control. This is why coffee shops can’t advertise the sale of weed, no one under 18 is allowed inside, they may not sell over a certain amount to each customer, customers have to be controlled and not cause a disturbance, and obviously, they cannot sell anything harder than cannabis.
The combination of a multi-cultural influx of refugees and a belief in freedom of living meant that Amsterdam was primed to become a cannabis haven. Due to the ways in which they control the sale of cannabis, there is almost no risk in quality or access by minors. However, Amsterdam has had some issues with tourists attempting to take advantage of their laid back drug policies. This may change how tourists can access cannabis and coffee shops. If a country wants to allow the sale of something considered dangerous enough to be illegal in many parts of the world, they do need to be careful. If there are too many loopholes or places where foreigners can take advantage this could affect the legal ecosystem Amsterdam has carefully forged. If crime starts to go up due to drug-related crimes then the system falls apart. Hopefully, things won’t come to having to take these privileges away from visitors. As long as visitors continue to be respectful of the laws and don’t take the piss Amsterdam should be able to remain the cannabis capital of the world. So if you’re ever lucky enough to visit, please behave and enjoy the amazing cannabis culture responsibly.
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