BAN LEAVES POT SMOKERS ON OUTSIDE

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - The latest news from the mecca of marijuana users
is a real mind-blower. Under a new ban on smoking in public places, Dutch
coffee shops will be allowed to sell joints, but their customers will have
to go outside to smoke them.

To the chagrin of the owners of the country's popular smoking
establishments, national health guidelines due to take effect next January
seem to be inadvertently striking the heart of the liberal Dutch drugs policy.

The first coffee shop selling marijuana and hashish opened in the
Netherlands in 1972 and they now number more than 800 countrywide. In
Amsterdam, millions of tourists a year sample the vast varieties advertised
on menus.

In addition to selling small quantities of what the Dutch call"soft-drugs,"
many coffee shops also offer patrons comfortable couches, fresh fruit
juices and board games. Alcohol is generally forbidden.

Reactions in Dutch coffee shops ranged from utter amazement to concern
about what will happen to the three-decade-old tradition in Amsterdam of
social pot smoking. "They've got to be out of their minds," laughed
Annemiek van Royan, a regular at the "Kashmir Lounge" coffee shop in West
Amsterdam.

Health Ministry spokesman Bas Kuik said the law was not intended to target
coffee shops, and - as in all public areas - they could have designated
smoking areas.

The sale of marijuana is officially illegal, but its use has been
decriminalized. Studies show that use of such drugs is no greater in the
Netherlands than in countries where its is banned.