PLACES
PLACES
This section is dedicated to the experiences of those places in Europe in which the sale of marijuana is legalized: CHRISTIANIA (Denmark), COFFEE SHOP (Holland) and the HEMP-DRESSERS (Switzerland)
> > > CHRISTIANIA 
Christiania gives you to the head, but first of all to the nose. The sweetish smell of hashish you deafen already two, three hundred meters before crossing the welcome trust. The first idea is that in the most ancient and combative community of hippy of Europe the utopy "love and peace" is going, literally, in smoke. Effectively along Pusher Street, three hundred meters of aluminum small shacks, you can see what is the type of economy: leaves of marijuana and hashish. The road of vendors, that they expose liberally their goodses as they were in an joyful market, is the only place of all the Denmark in which is, if not concurred, at least tolerated to sale light drugs. Christiania - paradoxes of the history, 41 hectares in the heart of Copenaghen that a time accommodated a military base - stands on own rules, strangers to those of the state, and the first one of its autoproclame law is "free joint" (the second is "heavy drugs to the ban"). Seated within small shacks of anodized aluminium they are the king's of the "turn". They expose the own goods on the counter, in small basin of paper: "SuperSkunk", is written on the more valuable tray, "70 crowns to gram", ten euro approximately. It goes like the bread. Nevertheless not there is danger in Pusher Street, with that one its area of illegality much manifest to turn out innocuous. An inner committee to the common one takes care itself to guarantee the emergency of the inhabitants. Which the pain in case of violation of the rules? The hunting from the paradise. They earn exorbitant figures, the pusher. In a single day it can be succeeded that they can earn beyond 5.000 euro. To clearly of the taxes, than to Christiania they are not paid, but not to clearly of the courage that it wants in order to resist longest turns of job why the service is guaranteed 24 hours on 24- and continuous stress of the raid of the police. In truth the true objective of these "visits" more than the grass seems to be the lands, placed in the heart of Copenaghen and therefore optimal for eventual building speculations. Christiania officially enjoys the state of "social experiment", and therefore all that happens inside of the former military base, excluded crimes, regard its inhabitants (640 in all). To the Moonefisken ("the fisherman on the moon ", translate), that is the bar more "trendy" a smoke cloud receives you. On the bench, still more clearly of the small envelopes of sugar there is a dispenser of metal for the cigarette paper, of all the measures. Here the Christiana's inhabitants come, but also the inhabitants of the chief town, for stay in peace and smoking. What it has made of this meeting the loved place more of the community is clear decided politics: not alcohol, the drunkards gives annoyance, but hashish, because joints has not never made badly nobody. Therefore, the Danish roll their joints between a game of billiards and a game of cards. They relax, simply. It 's easy to distinguish who he lives here in stable plant and who is only a travellers. Many Christiana's inhabitants have an age near the 50 years old, while for a pause bite teenager come from the rest of the city, many girls. Not that the youngs residents lack. The rent, here to Christiania, is less than a quarter than what it is spold "outside" for an apartment: 1200 crowns to the month, 165 euro, comprised light, water and gas, independently from how much large one are the lodging. Little, above all for being in the true heart of the Danish chief town, to a step from the lake, with the narrow lanes that show oneself along colorful channels and that they are rigorously sluices to the traffic. But there is also to say that here all the infrastructures have been made by the same ones Christiana's inhabitants. Chritiania is a wonderful place where it arrives always various people and Pusher Street is in bottom one road like an other, not necessary but tolerated.
>>>
COFFEE SHOP 
The law in Holland makes one clean distinction between traffic and consumption. The first one is hard repressed, while the consumption for himself is not directly pursue. The cannabis is sold in points sale (coffee-shop) that they must be adhered to precise prescription: not to sell to the minors of 16 years, to sell only little quantitaty, not to make publicity of the goods that they sell. The premises propose hashish and marijuana on the menu. True institutions of the transgression, the coffee shop of Amsterdam are the house of "exageration", million young people arrive here in order to smoke joints without the fear of controls and endorsements from part of the police. But unlike what is believed the drug use in Holland is officially illegal. The country has in truth a permissive attitude as far as the consumption of hashish and marijuana but there is a precise distinction between "light" and "heavy" drugs. This means that to Amsterdam it is not all permission. If the police seems in fact tolerate the coffee shop she can be a lot hard in other cases. The "lights" drugs are tolerated with a personal consumption that does not have to exceed the five grams (before was thirty grams, always allowed like personal use). The possession of quantity above the five grams comes instead considered punished sale of illegal or counterfeit items and with the relative endorsements. On the forehead of heavy drugs Holland is aligned with the other European countries and previews strict pains rather. That does not remove that Amsterdam remains however the chief town of "hashish": here the drug is more accessible, plus economic and of top quality regarding all the other European cities. We come therefore to the coffee shop, one of the institutions of the city. Without to use euphemism, they are coffees in which you can found in sale, to times directly on the menu, various types of hashish and marijuana coming from all the world. In some they sold also marijuana's plants and seeds. An other specialty of these "premises" is the cakes, cakies in which to the flour and to the sugar hashish and marijuana are added like ingredients.
>>>
HEMP-DRESSERS 
The names on the display windows clearly render the idea on the goods in sale: Thc, Budda, green Paradise. Beyond to accessories, incenses and gadget, their main goods is the so-called the "perfumed bags", than they are not other that indica hemp confection, in little words marijuana. This is the escamotage to render tolerated in the Swiss canton that one that is still today one illicit substance. In truth the law in Switzerland is still ambiguous, in theory the possession and the hemp cultivation is legal until it is not demonstrated that it is used like narcotic. But in the 2000 federal court has declared illegal all the hemp with one percentage of advanced active principle to the 0,3 per cent. This is a state where, according to statistics, the 60 per cent of the citizens are to favor of the legalization. At september, however, it will resume in the Swiss parliament the examination of the law on the legalization. In the meantime, the hemp dressers continue their profitable commerce defendig themselves with wording of the type: "hemp for to perfume atmospheres" or "seeds for collectors". But not only, in Ticino the tolerance in the comparisons of "light" drugs has made to revive in many people the wish to cultivate the own small plants. And someone has thought well to increase itself. They have been for the first local agriculturists, in order to round off the unearned income of one earth of for himself not much generous one. Some other, instead, has began "factories" of marijuana. One of largest is that one of Scott Blake, guru of the field and creator of variety appreciated like the White Widow. After to have travelled for years in east and to have gained to Amsterdam nine Cup Cannabis, the producer has been withdrawn in this angle of Europe where he produce marijuana. Its "company" is developed on three plans: there are rooms where they grown thousands of small scions, rooms where the plants are subordinates to cycles of light for the increase and other rooms to exsiccate.
