NORML president passes Dutch coffeeshop training course
Date: Sunday, June 02 2002
Topic: About NORML
MEDIA RELEASE -- Sunday June 2, 2002 -- FOR IMMEDIATE USE
NORML president passes Dutch coffeeshop training course, plans to open Cannabis Cafe in New Zealand.
HAARLEM, NETHERLANDS - New Zealand NORML’s president, Chris Fowlie, has
this week legally sold marijuana, been on Irish Television and passed
the Coffeeshop College training course held in the Netherlands with the
highest score yet.
The week-long Coffeeshop College course aims to teach budding
canna-business people everything they need to know to run a cannabis
cafe. It is run by Nol van Schaik, co-founder of the UK’s first cannabis
café; Maruska de Bleuw, curator of the Global Hemp Museum; and Wernard
Bruning who started Amsterdam's first coffeeshop, the Mellow Yellow. The
course includes intensive training on inspecting and evaluating
top-quality hash and marijuana, safety and hygiene standards, cannabis
harm reduction, the history and features of the Dutch coffeeshop policy,
a field trip to some coffeeshops, and work experience in an actual
cannabis café.
As part of the Coffeeshop College course Mr Fowlie 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 Television and
the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung.
Chris earlier this year won a charge of possession of 0.7 grams of
cannabis. The ruling set a new precedent that should prevent police
searching people based on their opinion that someone smells of cannabis.
As part of that case, Mr Fowlie was allegedly defamed by the Dominion
newspaper. Their subsequent "donation" enabled Mr Fowlie to enroll in
the Coffeeshop College course and travel the world researching
alternative drug policies on behalf of Green MP Nandor Tanczos.
Mr Fowlie has so far investigated the medical marijuana clubs in San
Francisco, the cannabis-friendly cafes in Vancouver, the police practice
of not arresting cannabis users in the London borough of Lambeth, the UK's cannabis-friendly cafes in Brixton and Bornemouth, and coffeeshops in the Netherlands.
"After seeing all the different approaches, there is no doubt in my mind that coffeeshops provide the best model for the controlled availability of cannabis in a way that most limits availability to youth and separates cannabis buyers from hard drug sellers. 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," said Mr Fowlie.
"The New Zealand health committee’s inquiry into cannabis is still
deliberating and due to report by July. 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 think to do and the people want it," said Mr
Fowlie.
For more information:
Nol van Schaik can be contacted via the Global Hemp Museum: 0031 23 5349939
www.wwwshop.nl - click on link for Coffeeshop College information
www.dutchexperience.org - the UK’s first coffeeshop
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