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Some History & Background of the Coffeeshops. It is estimated that there are now 300 Coffeeshops in the Amsterdam municipality. Since 1995, following the enforced closure of over 200 Coffeeshops,- on the grounds they were involved in hard drug distribution - all are licensed by the local authorities. No more Coffeeshops are allowed to open in Amsterdam and there must be no blatant promotion & advertising of Cannabis and its sale on the premises in any form - this has been extended to Coffeeshop web sites, which is why many have taken their "Menus" off or totally re-designed their sites. This does not stop you from asking for the "Menu" in every shop you visit if it is not on the counter. These surviving shops display a small green and white flag on the window or door with "Coffeeshop" or "B.C.D." (Guild of Cannabis Retailers) on it. Politricks Coffee shops are restricted in the amount of Cannabis they can have on the premises at any one time ( about half a Kilo ) -which is very little, given the trade in the summer. All this change came about due to protests from other countries - primarily America, France & the UK - about the amount of dope flooding in from Amsterdam. Pointless, really, since most of the countries concerned residents are growing their own with Dutch seed !! (Read in a British Newspaper that "Grow your own" is now reaching "epidemic proportions" and imported grass seizures are getting rare) Prior to all this repressive crap you could buy 30g per visit per person and Coffee shops could carry what ever amount of stock they liked - same as any other business. Yet Coffee Shops have to pay the same taxes etc as any "straight" business and seem to receive little credit for their contribution to the wealth of the city via dope tourism and the employment the shops create. This somewhat discriminatory attitude exists due to the fact that Cannabis cultivation and sale in the Netherlands is "tolerated" rather than, as a lot of people assume, legal - i.e. defined by Law. Local authorities in the Netherlands have the power to choose whether they allow coffeeshops within their areas of jurisdiction or not, At least this "quasi-legal" situation currently has the effect of keeping multinationals out of the game and lets small private enterprise thrive, which "Legalization" (in ANY country, take note) probably would not - in Britain, Tobacco companies registered brand names for Cannabis cigarettes as long ago as 1966. Legalization means multinationals will move in on both the cultivation and distribution markets, to the detriment of quality and choice.
 
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