Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Essentially legal since 1976, an impressive variety of marijuana joints fills the sales
racks in Dutch coffeeshops.
Because pot is retailed much like beer or cigarettes, varieties evolve with demand.
While each shop has different brands, it's all derived from two types of the marijuana
plant:
Cannabis indica
and
Cannabis sativa
.
Indica
gets you a stoned, heavy, mellow
high—it makes you just sit on the couch.
Sativa
is light, fun, uplifting, and more psyche-
delic—it makes you giggle.
Most of the pot sold in Dutch coffeeshops is grown locally, as coffeeshops find it's
much safer to deal with Dutch-grown plants than to import marijuana (the EU, as you
might imagine, prohibits any international drug trade). “Netherlands weed” is now re-
fined, like wine. The Dutch are wizards in a greenhouse, and technological advances
have made it easier to cultivate exotic strains. You may see joints described as if they'd
come from overseas, such as “Thai”—and, indeed, the strain may have originated else-
where—but it's still Dutch-grown.
