Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
their homes but don't own the land; there's no buying or selling of property.
When someone moves out, the community decides who will be invited in to
replace that person. A third of the adult population works on the outside, a
third works on the inside, and a third doesn't work much at all.
For the i rst few years, hard drugs and junkies were tolerated. But that led
to violence and polluted the mellow ambience residents envisioned. In 1979,
the junkies were expelled—an epic confrontation now embedded in the com-
munity's folk history. Since then, the symbol of a i st breaking a syringe is as
prevalent as the leafy marijuana icon. Hard drugs are emphatically forbidden
in Christiania.
Christiania says yes to marijuana and no to hard drugs.
Marijuana has always been the national plant of the free city. “Pusher
Street” (named for the former sale of soft drugs here) is Christiania's main
drag. In recent years, to pre-empt city forces shutting down the entire com-
munity for its open sale of pot, residents bulldozed the marijuana stalls lining
Pusher Street. (In spite of regular police raids, marijuana remains prevalent.
But the retailing, while still fragrant, is no longer l agrant.)
Because of its current crackdown, Copenhagen is experiencing i rsthand
a classic case study in the regrettable consequences of a war on marijuana.
For the i rst time in years, the Copenhagen street price for pot is up, gangs
are moving into the marijuana business, and crime is associated with pot.
