The China Mail - Dutch 'coffee shops' savour legal pot trial

"The legal producer has this type and this one," he said, pointing to products named "Runtz" and "Wedding Cake". "I've tasted it. It was great."

"The Baron" is one of a handful of coffee shops taking part in a new experiment from December to offer high quality "legal cannabis" from government-approved suppliers.

Contrary to widespread perception, pot is not actually legal in the Netherlands but since the 1970s, it has been "tolerated" up to a certain point.

Coffee shops may not stock more than 500 grammes (Just over one pound) of cannabis, nor sell more than five grammes per day to the same customer.

Growing and supplying cannabis is illegal, meaning coffee shops are technically operating outside the law when they receive stock -- sometimes from shadowy criminal suppliers.

The 61-year-old Brand, who has been selling pot for 32 years, believes that getting everything above board will deliver legal clarity for coffee shop owners -- with more choice and better quality products for consumers.

He is dealing with a nearby supplier selected by the authorities, who has been preparing for this experiment for years.

The legal grey zone leads to uncertainty over precisely what smokers are getting in their joints, he told AFP.

"What we've been receiving until now sometimes contains pesticide, but also foreign agents to increase weight. Actually, we don't really know," he said.

The experiment will allow him to sell cannabis that is "100 percent pure," he said.

Due to the legal situation, Brand declines to reveal where he currently receives his stock, but stresses he has no links to criminal suppliers.

- 'Good old weed' -

Inside the cafe, Brand's customers receive their cannabis in the shape of a small green ball. Smoke billows throughout the room and even out into the street, as a distinctive cannabis smell fills the air.

Souad, a regular at "The Baron", who did not wish to give his last name due to the sensitivities still surrounding coffee shops, was eager for the new experiment to start.

"We will soon be able to smoke good old weed grown here in the Netherlands," he said, joint in hand.

The experiment, which begins on December 15 and lasts four years, will kick off in the southern cities of Breda and Tilburg before being expanded to others including one area of Amsterdam, which hosts most of the country's 564 coffee shops.

Cannabis remains a political hot potato in the Netherlands. Two of the four parties in Prime Minister Mark Rutte's outgoing coalition remain opposed to legalising the drug.

Rutte's centre-right party wants to wait to see how the "legally supplied" coffee shops fare compared to those still receiving supplies from non-approved sources.

Many experts fear that the Dutch tolerance of soft drugs like cannabis has led to a rise in consumption and trade of illegal hard narcotics such as cocaine -- with a related climb in organised crime.

On the streets of Breda, most were in favour of the trial, but there were still some dissenting voices, including 50-year-old student counsellor Maaike Dijkstra.

"The idea that you can buy it anywhere and easily... I wonder if it doesn't just mean that young people from puberty onwards will be able to start smoking even more easily than they do today," she told AFP.

P.Deng--ThChM