MARIJUANA LOVERS FLOCK TO AMSTERDAM FESTIVAL

By Mike Corder, Associated Press writer

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) A whiff of Skunk? Some dazzling Northern
Lights? How about a Great White Shark bite?

Different tokes for different folks were competing Thursday for the
attention of the high rollers judging the 10th annual Cannabis Cup.

About 2,000 marijuana lovers, many of them from the United States, are in
the drugtolerant Dutch capital for their yearly blowout, a fiveday
``harvest festival'' organized by the U.S.based High Times magazine.

Before the cup presentation, judges puffed their way through bags full of
homegrown weed as paying guests took a special bus tour of Amsterdam's
famous marijuanaselling ``coffeeshops.''

``You have to pace yourself,'' said Jody Miller, the event's publicist.

Miller said she doesn't smoke not that it matters. Sitting in one corner
of a room thick with sweetsmelling smoke, she confessed to being high for
three days on the secondhand fumes.

At a hazy awards ceremony in an Amsterdam night club late Thursday,
marijuanaselling coffee shop ``De Dampkring'' snatched the top prize, the
Cannabis Cup, for the second year running.

De Dampkring also won awards for the best Dutchgrown hashish and the best
marijuana grown in soil, a potent strain called Peace Maker.

Popular strains Skunk and Northern Lights didn't win any awards but Great
White Shark grabbed second spot in the soilgrown marijuana award.

The festival, which began Monday, closes Friday.

More than a fiveday marijuana binge, the festival is an attempt to show
the world what cannabis users can achieve, said organizer Steven Hager.

There are seminars on religion and the medicinal use of marijuana as well
as a presentation promoting hemp the fibrous cannabis plant as a viable
alternative to wood as a source of pulp for paper production.

This year's heady mix is completed by a hemp cloth fashion show, a ceremony
honoring the late reggae singer Bob Marley and a trade exhibition
showcasing cannabis growing and smoking paraphernalia.

But Arjan Roskam, owner of three marijuana cafes in Amsterdam and a
mailorder company that sells cannabis seeds, was blase about the
competition.

``It's good for sales, but it costs a lot too,'' the 32yearold said,
complaining he had to take on extra staff.

``I've won 13 cups in the last four years. I don't have any competitors. I
do my own thing,'' he added.

Though marijuana is illegal in the Netherlands, Dutch authorities consider
it and hashish as ``soft'' drugs and allow smallscale use and sale.

That's what makes Amsterdam a magnet for the likes of John Utterback, a
selfproclaimed ``Marijuana Monk'' who lives part of each year in the Dutch
capital and the rest of the time in Florida.

``This town is Disneyland for adults,'' he said, offering a puff of his
fragrant joint to passersby, ``and this is THE gala for cannabis lovers.''