Photos of NORML president on his Dutch coffeeshop course

Learning how to open a Cannabis Cafe in New Zealand, Haarlem, Holland, June 2002

	Chris at the counter with a sign reading "student in training". As part of the Coffeeshop College course, Chris legally weighed and sold about 50 deals of marijuana and hash over the counter of coffeeshop Willie Wortel's Sativa, as he was interviewed by Irish TV and the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. The Coffeeshop College course aims to teach budding canna-business people everything they need to know to run a cannabis cafe.
First the bar work part of the course: Chris making cappucino ... and doing the Indica stash stock take.
Part of the intensive training on inspecting and evaluating top-quality hash and marijuana, included taste, smell and appearance testing. Above is at the Sinsemilla counter.
Part of the intensive training on inspecting and evaluating top-quality hash and marijuana, included a trichome count using the Global Hempmuseum's digital microscope.
Chris taking the final written test - part of which involved a taste test. He passed the Coffeeshop College training course held in the Netherlands with the highest score yet, 30 out of 32.
Chris celebrated passing the week-long Coffeeshop College training course with a mug of hot canna-chocolate with course tutor Nol van Schaik.
	"Coffeeshops provide the best model for the controlled availability of cannabis," Chris said. "Dutch cannabis use rates are barely one third that in New Zealand. The Dutch police, government and healthcare workers are all happy with the coffeeshops."

"When I return to New Zealand in September, I intend to apply to the Government for a license to open a coffeeshop, which would provide the best quality cannabis to adults in a safe, controlled environment. If they heed the scholarly research and the large majority of submissions presented to the inquiry, they should support having cannabis cafes. If not, I am sure it will happen anyway because it is the right thing to do and people want it."

The first Dutch coffeeshops opened before decriminalisation took place, and they played a key role in getting the law relaxed.

Thanks to the Dominion for paying for Chris to enrol in the Coffeeshop College course and travel the world researching alternative drug policies.