AMSTERDAM IS GOING TO POT

Bloomberg News

In a bright yellow room dotted with multicoloured suns, Barney's Breakfast
Bar serves eggs, pancakes, and the house special -- Sweet Tooth, the best
marijuana on sale in Amsterdam.

At least that's what the judges at the Cannabis Cup decided last year.

Now, Barney's and its coffee-shop rivals are gearing up for this year's
contest. Beginning Nov. 24, close to 3,000 marijuana fans will spend five
days in Amsterdam rating the very best in cannabis. That means a boom in
business for the shop owners and for the Dutch economy.

"There's great demand for the winning product," said Derry Brett, a former
engineer and owner of Barney's. His shop has no corners; the fluid shapes
create the feeling of floating when high, Brett said. "Cannabis is a huge
business for Amsterdam."

Winning the cup can increase a shop's sales by as much as 50 per cent. And
overall, the 1976 decriminalization of smoking marijuana has contributed
much to the Dutch economy. Drugs were a 2.2 billion Cdn (all prices in
Canadian funds) business worth 0.5 per cent of gross domestic product in
1995, the last time the government collected such figures.

"It is a huge industry and growing," said Peter Cohen, an associate
professor of sociology at the University of Amsterdam. "Cannabis creates
jobs and income for people who may not otherwise have jobs, who then pay
taxes to the government."

The government also collects taxes on income from marijuana -- as much as
52 per cent depending on a shop's take.

"The Dutch government is doing so well with drug tourism," said Mike
Esterson, the Cannabis Cup's promoter and organizer. "It's a cash cow for
everyone involved."

A gram of marijuana sold in an Amsterdam coffee shop costs between $8 and
$16. Most shops also offer pre-rolled joints at an average price of $5.
Such sales can bring in more than a million dollars a year for a shop,
academics and economists estimate.

For every $28 a tourist spends stocking up on White Widow, White Smurf or
Warlock marijuana, he or she spends $315 on food and lodging in the city,
coffee-shop owners estimate. The 10.1 million visitors of all kinds who
visited the Netherlands in 1999 spent nearly $4 billion.

"It is certain that many tourists come to the city to see the deviance
here, the drugs, the prostitution," Cohen said.

The Cannabis Cup, first held in 1987, boasts its own headquarters, travel
agency and concert program. And it's growing: Twenty-six of Amsterdam's
coffee shops, the most the cup has ever hosted, will this year present
their best specimens for critique.

Judges -- that means anyone who pays about $350 for the right to vote on
Betty Boop's Bubble Gum marijuana and Bushmaster's Kali Mist hash -- have
five days to sample the goods from the shops and vote in the Cup's
headquarters.

The judges, mostly Americans, are transported by bus from the home office
to the doors of each shop. They're asked to avoid other mind-altering
substances, such as caffeine and alcohol.

While Dutch law permits the smoking of marijuana, it's illegal and
punishable by law to grow more than five plants. Growing more than 1,000
plants is subject to a fine of as much as about $200,000 and up to six
months in prison. The possession and sale of hard drugs such as cocaine and
heroin is also illegal.

Proprietors must have a licence to sell marijuana, and while some have a
licence to also sell alcohol, most can only sell beverages such as tea,
coffee or juice.

Other shops in the country are allowed to sell hallucinogenic mushrooms and
herbal ecstasy.

The government monitors the coffee shops to see that the rules of the
licence are being followed. Barney's cannot post signs informing people
that his shop offers the reigning king of marijuana, because it's illegal
to advertise cannabis. Brett relies on word-of-mouth advertising and
articles in High Times magazine for people to know he has the goods.
Coffee-shop owners said the reason for the monitoring is clear: while the
liberal drugs policy may draw tourists it also creates an image problem for
Amsterdam.

"In America, if you say you went to Amsterdam, people assume you went to
smoke weed all vacation long," said Xochitl Gonzalez, 25, an events planner
in New York. "There's a perception that drugs and debauchery are everywhere."

The Dutch government doesn't flaunt its drug policy. The official Dutch
tourism Internet site doesn't mention the Cannabis Cup under its "Events"
site, instead showcasing the country's windmills and tulips.

Some other countries, including the U.K., Portugal, Switzerland and
Belgium, are moving toward or considering the decriminalization of
marijuana. Until then, the Netherlands continues to cash in on cannabis.

(c) Copyright 2002 Calgary Herald