Cannabis Business In Holland

Thanks to tolerant laws concerning soft drugs, the Dutch have become the undisputed European masters of cannabis agriculture. Their local production: more than 100 tons per year, worth at least 1.5 billion francs.

AMSTERDAM has become the soft drug world capital. From the 21st to 28th of November, the charming, historical city will host the eleventh High Times' Cup, better known by enthusiasts as "the Amsterdam cannabis cup." "Not less than seventy-five varieties of hashish and herbal cannabis will be tasted with the same seriousness as that granted to wines of Burgundy," announced Essensie, the magazine of cannabis agriculture and psychedelic drug enthusiasts. The reason of the choice of Amsterdam seems evident: No where else on the globe is there is such a concentration of shops of cannabis and paraphernalia.

Despite a political will to reduce their number we nevertheless find in Holland, from Maastricht in the South, to Groninge in the North, 1200 to 1500 coffee-shops. In about 12 years, Dutch growers have become undisputed masters of the production, cloning, and general expertise regarding the plant, regularly creating new varieties whose tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content is higher than that of the more traditional products of Thailand, Jamaica or Lebanon.

This dominant position is the result of a several factors: The immigration of American specialists who came to Amsterdam when California became dangerous because of the drug-war; The traditional Dutch governmental tolerance on soft drugs, the sale and the production of which are decriminalized; And the expertise of Dutch agriculture in the growing of many vegetables and fruits under greenhouses.

In 1989, only 10% of the sales in coffee-shops came from the "nedervviet", a local cannabis with so strong an odor that it was baptized skank ("skunk"). The other 90 % came from the traditional countries of production. Today, cannabis growers have the choice among dozens of varieties, and almost all the cannabis sold in coffee-shops is grown in Holland. Concerning hashish however, made from cannabis, Moroccan and Afghanese remain best sellers despite some trials to produce it locally, notably with new and ingenious hash-making machines, such as the "pollinator."

Since the release of a governmental white-paper on drugs in October 1995, the commercial growing of cannabis is forbidden, while production "in small quantity" is tolerated. The government's aim is to fight the criminalization of that activity and they hope that small growers will sell their harvests directly to the local coffee-shops. Nothing proves that this political tactic has worked. Nevertheless, these new provisions have resulted in an explosion of "grow shops."

Interpolm, Home Grow Shop, Plant 2000, Positive Grow, Greenpoint: There are already between 150 and 200 grow shops in Holland, compared to only 3 twelve years ago. These shops offer absolutely all the needed equipment for cannabis growing. The activity, which requires a good "green thumb," can be organized in the open, but also at home, in a "loft" or in a greenhouse. The more effective growers will use special lamps, irrigation systems and air conditioning systems and, of course, they only use quality seeds.

For quite some time now the sale of clones has been forbidden, which, insist the specialists, has reduced the size of the harvests. Adrien Jansen, a professor and researcher at the Institute of Economics of Amsterdam University and expert on the economy of cannabis, published a socio-economic survey on coffee-shops. He estimates that indoors, an individual producer can harvest one kilogram of herb per year per square meter.

A visit to a Dutch grow shop might well produce a heart attack for any French crusader of soft drug prohibition: a great diversity of seeds -- from the least expensive to the best: White Widow, or Black Domina that produces "an enigmatic smile on your face", -- many kinds of lamps, fertilisers, living insects which will kill and eat cannabis parasites, irrigation systems, and even "THC Boosters" which will increase the THC-content of your plants, etc.

Grow shops are bathed in the bitterweet odor of cannabis. Most proudly display their own production: veritable bushes crowned with flowers sticky with resin. Employees are there to sell, but also to provide advice to clients. Those who wish to learn more can buy one of the innumerable guides for succeeding with their harvests, translated into most European languages. Belgians and Hollanders can subscribe to "Essensie," a thick grower's magazine that gives practical advice, tests of new products and specialized advertisements. There are also "beginner's kits" for growers or more sophisticated automated systems, intended to be buried for security while waiting for the harvest. During a recent visit in a grow shop, we met two young French growers "from Marseille" who ordered one of these wonder installations, just because they fear the French cops! Possessing lamps or even seeds is not illegal in France, but of course, growing is forbidden.

The pioneer of Dutch grow shops was also a hashish smuggler long before being the creator and owner of the first Dutch coffee shop, "Mellow Yellow" in Amsterdam. Adrien Jansen tells the story: "Wernard was the greater innovator, he invented new practices, he found solutions to any and all problems, he decided to be the prototype and entrepreneur of this new activity."

Recently, Wernard lost Positronics, his grow shop which was famous for its foot ball table-soccer game ("the only game that one can play better when stoned" he said.) "Some time ago, Positronics was selling too many clones, so Wernard decided not to sell more than forty clones per client" explains a friend. "But some of his employees didn't obey and went on delivering a lot more in secret. Relations between employees deteriorated, some employees lost their job." And then, Positronics collapsed. "A lot of owners of grow shops have no sense of organization and are quickly overcome by events," explains Adrien Lansen.

If there is one entrepreneur in this market who has always kept his head on his shoulders it is Ben Dronkers. This small and calm 48 year old man is the owner of a true cannabis growing and trading empire with a turnover of 4 to 6 million Dutch florins per year and more than an additional million for paraphernalia, but these numbers are judged as an underestimation by many officials. But Dronkers hastens to add: "I'm just a hippie trying to appear serious in a conventional Dutch way. In fact, there is a much stronger and more fundamental inner link that binds me to cannabis."

THE STORIES of Wernard and Ben Dronkers illustrate the Dutch attitude concerning soft drugs. "I've been a cannabis smoker for 31 years," says Ben while rolling thin and fragrant joints. During travels in the Orient, he made long visits to growers of cannabis to learn of their methods. "There I understood that the quality of the seeds was more important that the method of growing." Back in Holland, Dronkers studied the growing of tomatoes and tulips under greenhouses. Dronkers also founded a chain of coffee shops, Sensi Smile, and a Cannabis Museum, in a charming house right in the heart of the red-light district of Amsterdam, between prostitutes in windows on one side and emaciated dealers of "brown" and bad ecstasy on the other. "The museum attracts eighty thousand visitors per year," affirms Dronkers, "despite a 24 FFr. entrance ticket."

Dronkers founded an association of coffee-shop proprietors and became one of the privileged partners for dialogs with the local or national authorities, a specialist of the legislation of cannabis. Ben Dronkers wants to purify a branch of the association which is "polluted" by some owners who don't respect the legal instructions about the limits of tolerance: no hard drugs, no sale to thole less than sixteen years of age, no deal of more than 30 grams, (5 grams since the most recent directive), no advertisement, no disturbing of the public order. His son, Alan, is now the manager of the coffees shops and the ongoing ideological fight. Ben confesses: "I am tired of fighting."

Copyright Le Monde, Paris 1998

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