Thursday, December 13, 2012

Banning POT from SCHOOL? What's NEXT?!

Amsterdam to ban smoking pot in school By TOBY STERLING | Associated Press –


AMSTERDAM (AP) — >Amsterdam's mayor said Wednesday he would formally ban students from smoking marijuana at school, making the Dutch capital the first city in the Netherlands to do so.
Eberhard van der Laan's introduction of a law that in other countries either already exists or seems so obvious it wouldn't even require a rule is the result of the Netherlands' unique drugs policy. Under the "tolerance" principle, marijuana is technically illegal here, but police can't prosecute people for possession of small amounts.
That's the loophole that made possible Amsterdam's famed "coffee shops" — cafes where marijuana is sold openly. But it has also had the unwanted side effect that Dutch children are frequently exposed to the drug in public areas.
City spokeswoman Iris Reshef says schools have always forbidden pot, but found it difficult to enforce the policy when students smoked on or near campus and challenged administrators to do anything about it.
"It's not really what you have in mind as an educator, that children would be turning up for class stoned, or drunk either for that matter," she said. "But it has been a problem for some schools."
After a change in national law, the city will now be able to declare as of Jan. 1 "no toking zones" — areas like schools and playgrounds where weed-smoking is forbidden — under a public nuisance ordinance. Police can then levy fines against students or anybody else who flouts the rules.
The move is closely paired with a decision by the new government to ditch plans for a national "weed pass" that would have blocked tourists from buying marijuana.
That was a measure years in the making, and greatly desired by southern cities such as Maastricht that have been flooded with dealers from Belgium and Germany who drive across the border to buy weed in bulk. But the weed pass was opposed by Amsterdam, where drug tourists are not generally seen as causing many problems.
Last month, Van der Laan proclaimed that coffee shops would stay open for tourists after all. In a letter Wednesday, he noted that one in three tourists who come to Amsterdam try marijuana while they're here, more than previously estimated.
Wednesday's decision seems to signal a typically Dutch compromise outcome: the drug will remain available for adults and tourists who want to try it, but access for children will be restricted.
After several decades of the tolerance policy, Dutch marijuana usage rates are in the middle of international norms, higher than those in neighboring Germany, but lower than those in France, Britain or the United States.
Z: Tough times in Amsterdam, huh? What do you think of this? And does ANYBODY believe the stat that one in three tourists go all the way to Amsterdam to try pot? REALLY? Z

17 comments:

The Debonair Dudes World said...

"Banning POT from SCHOOL? What's NEXT?!"

Banning Sugar Drinks? Banning Big Mac's? Banning Hot Dogs, Banning Cookies from School?
Banning the Cops from eating Donuts?

Silverfiddle said...

I would like to know what the dropout rate and chronic unemployment rate is compared to other countries before passing judgment.

From my own personal experience seeing potheads in my hometown, I can't imagine that this is good.

But not to fear. When the Muslims gain a plurality, they'll clean it all up: the drugs, the beer, pornography, women dressing as they like and living their own lives...

Ducky's here said...

I assume they have only banned smoking weed in class.

beakerkin said...

Duncy

Shouldn't smoking pot be an essential
part of your class?

sue hanes said...


Z - Banning pot from schools is the right thing to do.

I'm with you that it sounds weird that one out of three toursits go to Holland just to try pot.

Soon they will go to Washington State - right?

Anonymous said...

FROM Z:

Sue, good point! Yes, they only have to go to Washington state! (I almost typed Washington State (as in university) but that's probably true, too :-)

Dude,it's a cold, cruel world when you can't smoke pot at school :-)

SF...Good point about Muslims.. and the way our courts seem to be caving, maybe Michigan will soon be 'cleaning up'. Of course, Michigan can DO with a little cleaning up, particularly Detroit (where politicians say they voted for Obama and they want their payback, dammit!:)

Ducky, I can't remember quite what the article said but I believe they can still smoke around the school. I guess the Dutch are too stupid to realize that the high doesn't leave when you cross a classroom threshold?

Beak...:-)

JonBerg said...

"And does ANYBODY believe the stat that one in three tourists go all the way to Amsterdam to try pot?"

I don't know but soon those in the US will need to go no further than Colorado; it's cool to use it here. But they better not even think of having a tobacco cigarette in a neighborhood bar, here- NO, NO, NO, BAD, BAD, BAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Everything mentioned in this paragraph has been brought on by Liberal DemocRATS. Aren't they cute?

Ed Bonderenka said...

Well, I was an Amsterdam drug buyer.
I dealt hashish back then.
Smuggled it all over Europe.
I kid you not.
Did some stupid stuff...

Anonymous said...

@JonBerg


"But they better not even think of having a tobacco cigarette in a neighborhood bar, here- NO, NO, NO, BAD, BAD..."

The hypocrisy...to use an old hippy phrase...is mind-blowing, isn't it?

Maybe their new anthem will be..."Why don't we do it in the road"...or "Don't bogart that joint my friend"...( Country Joe and the Fish and Easy Rider fame)

And the flag too.

Which reminds me...of that grand, flagrant lie Clinton laid on us..."I've tried marijuana and experimented with it...but I never liked it and didn't inhale!!! pfffffff...

And people bought it....you don't know if you like it or not based on what it does or does not do for you...which means... YOU HAVE TO INHALE to tell!!!

Kid said...

Ahhh, Amsterdam. the canals, the gables, the architecture, the red light district, Ann Frank's house......, the wooden shoes, the street markets and musicians, the red light district, the girls in the window...., The beautiful colorful Kronas, the Cuckoo clocks !

What was the question again ?

Anonymous said...

@Kid


Son...friend...you are..a real Pisser....the best kind

"What was the question again ?"

And one of the few I get real visuals from your disembodied...text!

Z said...

ED BONDERENKA...YOU DID NOTTTTT!!!
ARE YOU KIDDING MEEEE? That's fascinating. Boy,l can people change :-)

I had a cousin in the Sands Prison in Lebanon 40 years ago or so...QUITE a situation! First page of the LA Times; his socialite mother was devastated!
Said he hadn't dealt drugs; "the girl I was with did it" ...
:0)


Kid, Amsterdam IS a nice city! You know that! But this is NUTS!

TS/WS said...

In the 60's thru 90's everyone I knew who smoked the stuff were on the Deans Lists in College. They said it helped them retain info. Yea, they said that they had to read slow to take it in, but remembered better. Sometimes had to reread two or three times--but remembered it for years.
They would go to test and would not have to cram for night and day before the test--just went in and ACED IT!

JonBerg said...

"everyone I knew who smoked the stuff were on the Deans Lists in College."

Yeah, maybe that's the only way they could comprehend and retain, long enough to regurgitate, the defecation (think indoctrination) that they were being force fed.

Kid said...

IMP, Thanks. I enjoyed the visuals too.

TS/WS said...

the defecation (think indoctrination) that they were being force fed.
Pot won't help those with mental disorders - that's why they are so easly indoctrinationed.
Liberalizm is a Mental Disorder.
Not the results of a few puffs.

JonBerg said...

"Pot won't help those with mental disorders -

No it won't; it just compounds the disorders. I've been around it and tried it. In Colorado just wait: There will be a new Industry like the one that we have for DUI. Testing, classes (mandatory) rehab,counseling, on-and-on, ad infinitum! Watch, it will happen. Every 'pot head' that I've ever known is quite docile, loves everybody, and isn't worth much else!