CANNABIS BUSINESS IN HOLLAND

Thanks to tolerant laws concerning soft drugs, the Dutch have become the
undisputed European masters of cannabis agriculture. Their local
production: more than 100 tons per year, worth at least 1.5 billion francs.

AMSTERDAM has become the soft drug world capital. From the 21st to 28th of
November, the charming, historical city will host the eleventh High Times'
Cup, better known by enthusiasts as "the Amsterdam cannabis cup." "Not less
than seventy-five varieties of hashish and herbal cannabis will be tasted
with the same seriousness as that granted to wines of Burgundy," announced
Essensie, the magazine of cannabis agriculture and psychedelic drug
enthusiasts. The reason of the choice of Amsterdam seems evident: No where
else on the globe is there is such a concentration of shops of cannabis and
paraphernalia.

Despite a political will to reduce their number we nevertheless find in
Holland, from Maastricht in the South, to Groninge in the North, 1200 to
1500 coffee-shops. In about 12 years, Dutch growers have become undisputed
masters of the production, cloning, and general expertise regarding the
plant, regularly creating new varieties whose tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)
content is higher than that of the more traditional products of Thailand,
Jamaica or Lebanon.

This dominant position is the result of a several factors: The immigration
of American specialists who came to Amsterdam when California became
dangerous because of the drug-war; The traditional Dutch governmental
tolerance on soft drugs, the sale and the production of which are
decriminalized; And the expertise of Dutch agriculture in the growing of
many vegetables and fruits under greenhouses.

In 1989, only 10% of the sales in coffee-shops came from the "nedervviet",
a local cannabis with so strong an odor that it was baptized skank
("skunk"). The other 90 % came from the traditional countries of
production. Today, cannabis growers have the choice among dozens of
varieties, and almost all the cannabis sold in coffee-shops is grown in
Holland. Concerning hashish however, made from cannabis, Moroccan and
Afghanese remain best sellers despite some trials to produce it locally,
notably with new and ingenious hash-making machines, such as the "pollinator."

Since the release of a governmental white-paper on drugs in October 1995,
the commercial growing of cannabis is forbidden, while production "in small
quantity" is tolerated. The government's aim is to fight the
criminalization of that activity and they hope that small growers will sell
their harvests directly to the local coffee-shops. Nothing proves that this
political tactic has worked. Nevertheless, these new provisions have
resulted in an explosion of "grow shops."

Interpolm, Home Grow Shop, Plant 2000, Positive Grow, Greenpoint: There are
already between 150 and 200 grow shops in Holland, compared to only 3
twelve years ago. These shops offer absolutely all the needed equipment for
cannabis growing. The activity, which requires a good "green thumb," can be
organized in the open, but also at home, in a "loft" or in a greenhouse.
The more effective growers will use special lamps, irrigation systems and
air conditioning systems and, of course, they only use quality seeds.

For quite some time now the sale of clones has been forbidden, which,
insist the specialists, has reduced the size of the harvests. Adrien
Jansen, a professor and researcher at the Institute of Economics of
Amsterdam University and expert on the economy of cannabis, published a
socio-economic survey on coffee-shops. He estimates that indoors, an
individual producer can harvest one kilogram of herb per year per square
meter.

A visit to a Dutch grow shop might well produce a heart attack for any
French crusader of soft drug prohibition: a great diversity of seeds --
from the least expensive to the best: White Widow, or Black Domina that
produces "an enigmatic smile on your face", -- many kinds of lamps,
fertilisers, living insects which will kill and eat cannabis parasites,
irrigation systems, and even "THC Boosters" which will increase the
THC-content of your plants, etc.

Grow shops are bathed in the bitterweet odor of cannabis. Most proudly
display their own production: veritable bushes crowned with flowers sticky
with resin. Employees are there to sell, but also to provide advice to
clients. Those who wish to learn more can buy one of the innumerable guides
for succeeding with their harvests, translated into most European
languages. Belgians and Hollanders can subscribe to "Essensie," a thick
grower's magazine that gives practical advice, tests of new products and
specialized advertisements. There are also "beginner's kits" for growers or
more sophisticated automated systems, intended to be buried for security
while waiting for the harvest. During a recent visit in a grow shop, we met
two young French growers "from Marseille" who ordered one of these wonder
installations, just because they fear the French cops! Possessing lamps or
even seeds is not illegal in France, but of course, growing is forbidden.

The pioneer of Dutch grow shops was also a hashish smuggler long before
being the creator and owner of the first Dutch coffee shop, "Mellow Yellow"
in Amsterdam. Adrien Jansen tells the story: "Wernard was the greater
innovator, he invented new practices, he found solutions to any and all
problems, he decided to be the prototype and entrepreneur of this new
activity."

Recently, Wernard lost Positronics, his grow shop which was famous for its
foot ball table-soccer game ("the only game that one can play better when
stoned" he said.) "Some time ago, Positronics was selling too many clones,
so Wernard decided not to sell more than forty clones per client" explains
a friend. "But some of his employees didn't obey and went on delivering a
lot more in secret. Relations between employees deteriorated, some
employees lost their job." And then, Positronics collapsed. "A lot of
owners of grow shops have no sense of organization and are quickly overcome
by events," explains Adrien Lansen.

If there is one entrepreneur in this market who has always kept his head on
his shoulders it is Ben Dronkers. This small and calm 48 year old man is
the owner of a true cannabis growing and trading empire with a turnover of
4 to 6 million Dutch florins per year and more than an additional million
for paraphernalia, but these numbers are judged as an underestimation by
many officials. But Dronkers hastens to add: "I'm just a hippie trying to
appear serious in a conventional Dutch way. In fact, there is a much
stronger and more fundamental inner link that binds me to cannabis."

THE STORIES of Wernard and Ben Dronkers illustrate the Dutch attitude
concerning soft drugs. "I've been a cannabis smoker for 31 years," says Ben
while rolling thin and fragrant joints. During travels in the Orient, he
made long visits to growers of cannabis to learn of their methods. "There I
understood that the quality of the seeds was more important that the method
of growing." Back in Holland, Dronkers studied the growing of tomatoes and
tulips under greenhouses. Dronkers also founded a chain of coffee shops,
Sensi Smile, and a Cannabis Museum, in a charming house right in the heart
of the red-light district of Amsterdam, between prostitutes in windows on
one side and emaciated dealers of "brown" and bad ecstasy on the other.
"The museum attracts eighty thousand visitors per year," affirms Dronkers,
"despite a 24 FFr. entrance ticket."

Dronkers founded an association of coffee-shop proprietors and became one
of the privileged partners for dialogs with the local or national
authorities, a specialist of the legislation of cannabis. Ben Dronkers
wants to purify a branch of the association which is "polluted" by some
owners who don't respect the legal instructions about the limits of
tolerance: no hard drugs, no sale to thole less than sixteen years of age,
no deal of more than 30 grams, (5 grams since the most recent directive),
no advertisement, no disturbing of the public order. His son, Alan, is now
the manager of the coffees shops and the ongoing ideological fight. Ben
confesses: "I am tired of fighting."

Checked-by: Richard Lake