Dokkie
26-04-09, 01:22 PM
Coffeeshop Tweede kamer
http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/7821/1damp.jpg
It was raining again in Amsterdam, strangely this happens a lot lately when i'm there. But just infrond of coffeeshop tweede kamer, the sky cleared up, like a sign from The Man, like, ''Heey yur there Dokkie. this is the place.''
http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/3056/pauld.jpg
Inside coffeeshop ''De Tweede kamer'' I was welcomed by Paul, the owner, with a hot cup of coffee and a dozens sort of hash and weed. Shortly after we were talkin about how things started.
Dokkie(that's me.): "How did you come up with the name for coffeeshop, 'De Tweede Kamer' (The 2nd Chamber)?"
Paul: "We started in 1985. My best friend and I always chilled out in coffeeshops. And when you like coffeeshops as much as I do, you might as well open your own. At a time some shop space was available, this little space caught our eyes. We wanted something private and familiar. The name we made up while renovating the joint. Sittin in coffeeshop Houseman, wich doesn't exist anymore, a well known shop at that time, we brainstormed with a cup of coffee and a joint and wrote down some things. We wanted it to be cosy, like a living room. A second home away from home, to relax. So we came up with the name 'Tweede Kamer' (the 2nd chamber is the control chamber of the government).
Also as a prank to the political system. A small shop is comfortable and cosy like home. People talk to each other, social liberal magazines on the table and the music is not too loud, so we can talk. Political, cultural and social conversations give a very relaxed and openminded atmosphere. A lot of students, writers and artists love to experience the free thoughts, weed, hash and coffeehere. We used to play lots of chess, checkers and backgammon and serve free coffee and tea. Just like at home. We sold pre-packaged bags of 10 or twenty guilders, but we were the first to sell off the scales. So you could smell it and touch it. Just don't burn it. From then on People could buy whatever amount they want. You could even buy for 2 guilders if thats all you wanted. In the beginning of the eighties hippies still roled in from India and Morroco with 'balletjes' ( little balls) of hash rolled into to condoms and smuggled in black olive cans. That was superb quality stuff. We sold it back then for 10 guilders (5 euro) a gram.
http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/5112/2damp.jpg
Dokkie: "So you had to unwrap all those little balls yourself?"
Paul: "Yeah, it wasn't a lot cause they only carried little cans. But everybody was talkin bout 'balletje' in town, you know. By guessing the exact weight of a 'balletje' you could win one. So the term 'balletje' became well known in Amsterdam."
Dokkie: "We all know by now good quality is always there at 'De ‘Tweede Kamer' cause you got the best assortment. How do you maintain the quality on such a high level at all times?"
http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/1435/3damp.jpg
Paul: "Jeroen and I were real smokers back in the days. Even when were young we always thought, sell quality, at a reasonable price, but at least good quality. Our golden rule has always been, 'we buy nothing, what we don't smoke ourselves. We never sold, that 6 grams for 25 guilders(12 euros) bad Lebanon, the worst Paki, border Afghan or any bordershit (border was a term for poor quality).
It always has to be good enough to smoke myself. And that's were we became known for, the 'Tweede Kamer' was actually the first specialty shop for cannabis in Amsterdam. I have learned over the years that better quality hash and weed brings better quality people. Bad shit brings bad people. The more you get into the soapies (dutch term for a bad hash) and borderworld, you'll meet criminals, rippers and fucked up people. And when you're in a coffeeshop where quality is sold, you also see that in the kind of people that visit your shop.
Back in the eighties you still had a lot of old hippies that went to Asia and wanted to earn their holiday back.They all brought back very nice stuff from Afghanistan,India and other countries. They always brought it for themselves as well, so it was superb quality. But those people are gone these days, society is changing."
http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/8553/5damp.jpg
Dokkie:"That doesn't make you happy, hé?"
Paul: "No, but that's reality of course. The world has hardened. And I think it's only gonna get harder. I have to say this because of the SGP hassle(a very conservative christian political party), who were bitching about the name). I had a good laugh that they objected to our name. On the other hand, it's also sad example of the time we live in. Politics are ruled by rightwing christian conservatives in Holland. There's only two socialist governments left, in Europe. Austria and Spain and it's beginning to show. I really had the idea the war on drugs was kept out of our doors. Now it feels like it invaded Holland too. It's here! And the lobby is here too... The lobby of the UN and the lobby of the americans.
Dokkie:"And that creates pressure over here, right? How politicians splatter on the other side of the big blue tub..."
Paul: "Yes absolutely, it's 'Time for Change' like Obama says. And that's the hard truth. The other side is playing hardball and we hear way to little from our point of view. It's like a tsunami, we are bombarded with bad publicity about ridiculous high THC levels. Or that you'll become schizophrenic due to cannabis. That's all false information, it's all symbolism in politics. Coffeeshops are closed because they are too close to schools, but nobody's allowed in under 18 years old. And it just don't stop. Cannabis is supposed to have 10 times more tar in it then cigarettes, yeah right, whatever. But what the christians and conservatives are doing now, with cannabis consumers and coffeeshops, is the same what Wilders (extreme rightwing politician) is doing to the muslims and islam. Demonize, stigmatize and criminalize it. And if you really think about it, you'll see that's insane.
Dokkie: "That's mad for sure... Soon we can't even smoke in bars anymore. What do you think of the smoking ban?"
Paul:"Let's all say we can't smoke a cigarette in a coffeeshop. We are going back to the core and that's smoking a joint.That's the heart of my business. And if you make a comparison, it's strange when go to a swimming pool and you can't swim. Or you go to the airport and you can't fly. It's a cigarette ban, the tobacco law, not a cannabis ban!"
Dokkie:"Indeed, but if I really listen to politics and compare it to the pro cannabis publicity, I have a bad feeling about legalisation."
Paul:"I think the key is to regulate it. I've had idle hope, a couple of years ago, when the citycouncil elections were won by the left wing parties. I really had the idea back then, that would be the moment. The cities had the freedom to experiment with the backdoor (dutch term for coffeeshops buying cannabis from homegrowers), but the christian(CDA) politicians put a stop to that. They even threatened to make the cabinet fall if Maastricht would experiment with that. Amsterdam had the same chance.
Paul:" I always had the simple but effective idea; You have a growshop which takes care of the genetics and grow-materials. Those fire-safe ones and you have a weeddocter with it. I mean, you can buy a growroom there with a license to grow. And you can put 5 plants in it for example.The plants you also buy at the growshop of course. The weeddokkies drive through the country to solve any problems that might occur. So the quality is garanteed. A grower applies to the tax-department and justice department. So you don't have to steal electricity and because the growrooms are fire-proof, all problems are solved I think. For example, if they come to check your growroom and you have 6 instead of 5 plants, they can take your grow-license away. To keep the 5 plant-rule intact. The yield from those 5 plants they can sell to the growshop with a invoice including VAT. And the growshop can sell it to the coffeeshop. This way the backdoor policy is properly regulated."
Dokkie:"The way you see it you exclude all unfair trade and bad weed."
Paul:"Yes,lookin' at medicinal cannabis, you can grow very good quality this way. Also considering THC levels and such. And yes, to me that's the solution. Also, you can create jobs for thousands of people who are unemployed now. Growin on farmlands in glass houses ownes by the state is no good at all. Then you can build a fence around it with watchtowers and machine guns. What if you have to transport a thousand kilo's of weed in a truck for example. A thousand bottles of whiskey is worth already 10.000 euro. But with a thousand kilo's of weed you'll probably get shot of the road with a bazooka. So I dont believe that will work. Legalizing it with state owned grow farms, farmers that grow weed? No, I don't think that will work. According to me the solution is growing in small scale facilities for private use and to sell cannabis to coffeeshops. And public health? You can make sure everything is grown biological and that no chemical pesticides are used. A grower who breaks the law can be visited by any department of state and is out of business then. They will revoke his grow license. At least this way there is there's some form of control.
http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/2523/65073482.jpg
Dokkie:"In fact you are saying, we have an good condoning policy already. Why dont we make it into a real policy?"
Paul:"Yes and another thing, we sold alcohol next to softdrugs for 12,13 years. Never has there been any problem. Never trouble. We asked for reports from the city health service and the police. The results were that there were less problems in hashcafés hé, the so-called wetshops then in regular bars and cafés. And again under pressure of the christians they had to go. The mayor tried to prevent this, he recognized the benefits. He said let the hashcafés contimue to exist, the hashcafés are doing a good job. The coffeeshops have a very important social function. Because most youth centres are gone. In Amsterdam only very few are left. There's been cutbacks in youth services, soon there will be none left. So the social interactions that is still there, is in the coffeeshops. The only place in Amsterdam where integration has succeeded, is in the coffeeshops!!! Look, they can organize the 'day of dialogue' in Amsterdam and poor a cup of coffee with your turkish neighbor. But man, it's all so fake and forced. It don't work, that is symbol politics. What does work is the coffeeshop!!! In my places, wether it's the Tweede Kamer or the Dampkring, you always see people of different ethnicities and different religions.They all mingle with eachother and that works! All good vibes. Until this day there is no better alternative then coffeeshops. On one hand we can start prohibitin everything. That kind off american thinkin, that we don't want. On the other hand we can liberalize it all. But I''m not a fan of that. I stand for providing the right information. So giving good education about the negative side effects and minimalizing them. And sadly enough thats not here yet, the right information is simply not given. If I google and see Sweden tappin itself on the chest, because only 0.8% of their youth ever smoked cannabis, not even 1 % ?!? But if you read on in the reports, you'll see 19% of the swedish kids has sniffed glue!!! In this way the reports are simply manipulated. There is a 10 year plan wich stated litteraly, that drugs should be wiped out completely in 10 years worldwide. Literally, all wiped out. Ridiculous! In 2001 there was a UN report where holland was not counted among te statistics. Cause holland scores too good. We have a very low percentage harddrug users in Holland, if you compare it to the surrounding countries, Belgium, France, Germany and England. We are at an average level concerning cannabis consumers. The figures in the statistics speaks volumes for our progressive dutch drugpolicy.... So what does the UN do, they erase Holland. They join us with Belgium and Luxembourg. Luxembourg has a very high percentage of harddrug users and so they are only talkin' about the Benelux. So the dutch statistics with positive results from our cannabispolicy are not seen."
Dokkie:"I hope the next generation can still go to coffeeshops just like us. And that she can enjoy her joint in a safe place. It would be awfull it that wouldn't be possible anymore. That thought freaks me out. The possibility criminal dealers with harddrugs and shit like bad weed sell to MY girl.......
Paul:"Yes, I've got kids myself and I'm not the kind of person that wants to forbid everything, I think that's an illusion. We have to acknoledge and understand that recreational drug consumption is a part of society. it's been there for thousands of years, that's a fact! And you must not forbid that. You have to educate and regulate to protect our children from the vermin wich abuses that fact. So they will not, like me at the age of 14, have to buy some piece of liqourice in a dark alley. with a knife at my throat and they offered me more then I came for. Concerning my children, I hope that if my daughter would ever wanna smoke a spliff, she would do it with me or get it
in the coffeeshop..."
http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/6929/6damp.jpg
-----------------------------------------------------
We smoked some after our conversation but it was running late, so i had to head back to the station where the last train was impatiently waitin for me. Of course it was still raining. So I could only enjoy the fat Rifman joint of the ''Tweede Kamer'' when I got home.
Peace out...
© 4-2008 Dokkie
http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/7821/1damp.jpg
It was raining again in Amsterdam, strangely this happens a lot lately when i'm there. But just infrond of coffeeshop tweede kamer, the sky cleared up, like a sign from The Man, like, ''Heey yur there Dokkie. this is the place.''
http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/3056/pauld.jpg
Inside coffeeshop ''De Tweede kamer'' I was welcomed by Paul, the owner, with a hot cup of coffee and a dozens sort of hash and weed. Shortly after we were talkin about how things started.
Dokkie(that's me.): "How did you come up with the name for coffeeshop, 'De Tweede Kamer' (The 2nd Chamber)?"
Paul: "We started in 1985. My best friend and I always chilled out in coffeeshops. And when you like coffeeshops as much as I do, you might as well open your own. At a time some shop space was available, this little space caught our eyes. We wanted something private and familiar. The name we made up while renovating the joint. Sittin in coffeeshop Houseman, wich doesn't exist anymore, a well known shop at that time, we brainstormed with a cup of coffee and a joint and wrote down some things. We wanted it to be cosy, like a living room. A second home away from home, to relax. So we came up with the name 'Tweede Kamer' (the 2nd chamber is the control chamber of the government).
Also as a prank to the political system. A small shop is comfortable and cosy like home. People talk to each other, social liberal magazines on the table and the music is not too loud, so we can talk. Political, cultural and social conversations give a very relaxed and openminded atmosphere. A lot of students, writers and artists love to experience the free thoughts, weed, hash and coffeehere. We used to play lots of chess, checkers and backgammon and serve free coffee and tea. Just like at home. We sold pre-packaged bags of 10 or twenty guilders, but we were the first to sell off the scales. So you could smell it and touch it. Just don't burn it. From then on People could buy whatever amount they want. You could even buy for 2 guilders if thats all you wanted. In the beginning of the eighties hippies still roled in from India and Morroco with 'balletjes' ( little balls) of hash rolled into to condoms and smuggled in black olive cans. That was superb quality stuff. We sold it back then for 10 guilders (5 euro) a gram.
http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/5112/2damp.jpg
Dokkie: "So you had to unwrap all those little balls yourself?"
Paul: "Yeah, it wasn't a lot cause they only carried little cans. But everybody was talkin bout 'balletje' in town, you know. By guessing the exact weight of a 'balletje' you could win one. So the term 'balletje' became well known in Amsterdam."
Dokkie: "We all know by now good quality is always there at 'De ‘Tweede Kamer' cause you got the best assortment. How do you maintain the quality on such a high level at all times?"
http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/1435/3damp.jpg
Paul: "Jeroen and I were real smokers back in the days. Even when were young we always thought, sell quality, at a reasonable price, but at least good quality. Our golden rule has always been, 'we buy nothing, what we don't smoke ourselves. We never sold, that 6 grams for 25 guilders(12 euros) bad Lebanon, the worst Paki, border Afghan or any bordershit (border was a term for poor quality).
It always has to be good enough to smoke myself. And that's were we became known for, the 'Tweede Kamer' was actually the first specialty shop for cannabis in Amsterdam. I have learned over the years that better quality hash and weed brings better quality people. Bad shit brings bad people. The more you get into the soapies (dutch term for a bad hash) and borderworld, you'll meet criminals, rippers and fucked up people. And when you're in a coffeeshop where quality is sold, you also see that in the kind of people that visit your shop.
Back in the eighties you still had a lot of old hippies that went to Asia and wanted to earn their holiday back.They all brought back very nice stuff from Afghanistan,India and other countries. They always brought it for themselves as well, so it was superb quality. But those people are gone these days, society is changing."
http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/8553/5damp.jpg
Dokkie:"That doesn't make you happy, hé?"
Paul: "No, but that's reality of course. The world has hardened. And I think it's only gonna get harder. I have to say this because of the SGP hassle(a very conservative christian political party), who were bitching about the name). I had a good laugh that they objected to our name. On the other hand, it's also sad example of the time we live in. Politics are ruled by rightwing christian conservatives in Holland. There's only two socialist governments left, in Europe. Austria and Spain and it's beginning to show. I really had the idea the war on drugs was kept out of our doors. Now it feels like it invaded Holland too. It's here! And the lobby is here too... The lobby of the UN and the lobby of the americans.
Dokkie:"And that creates pressure over here, right? How politicians splatter on the other side of the big blue tub..."
Paul: "Yes absolutely, it's 'Time for Change' like Obama says. And that's the hard truth. The other side is playing hardball and we hear way to little from our point of view. It's like a tsunami, we are bombarded with bad publicity about ridiculous high THC levels. Or that you'll become schizophrenic due to cannabis. That's all false information, it's all symbolism in politics. Coffeeshops are closed because they are too close to schools, but nobody's allowed in under 18 years old. And it just don't stop. Cannabis is supposed to have 10 times more tar in it then cigarettes, yeah right, whatever. But what the christians and conservatives are doing now, with cannabis consumers and coffeeshops, is the same what Wilders (extreme rightwing politician) is doing to the muslims and islam. Demonize, stigmatize and criminalize it. And if you really think about it, you'll see that's insane.
Dokkie: "That's mad for sure... Soon we can't even smoke in bars anymore. What do you think of the smoking ban?"
Paul:"Let's all say we can't smoke a cigarette in a coffeeshop. We are going back to the core and that's smoking a joint.That's the heart of my business. And if you make a comparison, it's strange when go to a swimming pool and you can't swim. Or you go to the airport and you can't fly. It's a cigarette ban, the tobacco law, not a cannabis ban!"
Dokkie:"Indeed, but if I really listen to politics and compare it to the pro cannabis publicity, I have a bad feeling about legalisation."
Paul:"I think the key is to regulate it. I've had idle hope, a couple of years ago, when the citycouncil elections were won by the left wing parties. I really had the idea back then, that would be the moment. The cities had the freedom to experiment with the backdoor (dutch term for coffeeshops buying cannabis from homegrowers), but the christian(CDA) politicians put a stop to that. They even threatened to make the cabinet fall if Maastricht would experiment with that. Amsterdam had the same chance.
Paul:" I always had the simple but effective idea; You have a growshop which takes care of the genetics and grow-materials. Those fire-safe ones and you have a weeddocter with it. I mean, you can buy a growroom there with a license to grow. And you can put 5 plants in it for example.The plants you also buy at the growshop of course. The weeddokkies drive through the country to solve any problems that might occur. So the quality is garanteed. A grower applies to the tax-department and justice department. So you don't have to steal electricity and because the growrooms are fire-proof, all problems are solved I think. For example, if they come to check your growroom and you have 6 instead of 5 plants, they can take your grow-license away. To keep the 5 plant-rule intact. The yield from those 5 plants they can sell to the growshop with a invoice including VAT. And the growshop can sell it to the coffeeshop. This way the backdoor policy is properly regulated."
Dokkie:"The way you see it you exclude all unfair trade and bad weed."
Paul:"Yes,lookin' at medicinal cannabis, you can grow very good quality this way. Also considering THC levels and such. And yes, to me that's the solution. Also, you can create jobs for thousands of people who are unemployed now. Growin on farmlands in glass houses ownes by the state is no good at all. Then you can build a fence around it with watchtowers and machine guns. What if you have to transport a thousand kilo's of weed in a truck for example. A thousand bottles of whiskey is worth already 10.000 euro. But with a thousand kilo's of weed you'll probably get shot of the road with a bazooka. So I dont believe that will work. Legalizing it with state owned grow farms, farmers that grow weed? No, I don't think that will work. According to me the solution is growing in small scale facilities for private use and to sell cannabis to coffeeshops. And public health? You can make sure everything is grown biological and that no chemical pesticides are used. A grower who breaks the law can be visited by any department of state and is out of business then. They will revoke his grow license. At least this way there is there's some form of control.
http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/2523/65073482.jpg
Dokkie:"In fact you are saying, we have an good condoning policy already. Why dont we make it into a real policy?"
Paul:"Yes and another thing, we sold alcohol next to softdrugs for 12,13 years. Never has there been any problem. Never trouble. We asked for reports from the city health service and the police. The results were that there were less problems in hashcafés hé, the so-called wetshops then in regular bars and cafés. And again under pressure of the christians they had to go. The mayor tried to prevent this, he recognized the benefits. He said let the hashcafés contimue to exist, the hashcafés are doing a good job. The coffeeshops have a very important social function. Because most youth centres are gone. In Amsterdam only very few are left. There's been cutbacks in youth services, soon there will be none left. So the social interactions that is still there, is in the coffeeshops. The only place in Amsterdam where integration has succeeded, is in the coffeeshops!!! Look, they can organize the 'day of dialogue' in Amsterdam and poor a cup of coffee with your turkish neighbor. But man, it's all so fake and forced. It don't work, that is symbol politics. What does work is the coffeeshop!!! In my places, wether it's the Tweede Kamer or the Dampkring, you always see people of different ethnicities and different religions.They all mingle with eachother and that works! All good vibes. Until this day there is no better alternative then coffeeshops. On one hand we can start prohibitin everything. That kind off american thinkin, that we don't want. On the other hand we can liberalize it all. But I''m not a fan of that. I stand for providing the right information. So giving good education about the negative side effects and minimalizing them. And sadly enough thats not here yet, the right information is simply not given. If I google and see Sweden tappin itself on the chest, because only 0.8% of their youth ever smoked cannabis, not even 1 % ?!? But if you read on in the reports, you'll see 19% of the swedish kids has sniffed glue!!! In this way the reports are simply manipulated. There is a 10 year plan wich stated litteraly, that drugs should be wiped out completely in 10 years worldwide. Literally, all wiped out. Ridiculous! In 2001 there was a UN report where holland was not counted among te statistics. Cause holland scores too good. We have a very low percentage harddrug users in Holland, if you compare it to the surrounding countries, Belgium, France, Germany and England. We are at an average level concerning cannabis consumers. The figures in the statistics speaks volumes for our progressive dutch drugpolicy.... So what does the UN do, they erase Holland. They join us with Belgium and Luxembourg. Luxembourg has a very high percentage of harddrug users and so they are only talkin' about the Benelux. So the dutch statistics with positive results from our cannabispolicy are not seen."
Dokkie:"I hope the next generation can still go to coffeeshops just like us. And that she can enjoy her joint in a safe place. It would be awfull it that wouldn't be possible anymore. That thought freaks me out. The possibility criminal dealers with harddrugs and shit like bad weed sell to MY girl.......
Paul:"Yes, I've got kids myself and I'm not the kind of person that wants to forbid everything, I think that's an illusion. We have to acknoledge and understand that recreational drug consumption is a part of society. it's been there for thousands of years, that's a fact! And you must not forbid that. You have to educate and regulate to protect our children from the vermin wich abuses that fact. So they will not, like me at the age of 14, have to buy some piece of liqourice in a dark alley. with a knife at my throat and they offered me more then I came for. Concerning my children, I hope that if my daughter would ever wanna smoke a spliff, she would do it with me or get it
in the coffeeshop..."
http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/6929/6damp.jpg
-----------------------------------------------------
We smoked some after our conversation but it was running late, so i had to head back to the station where the last train was impatiently waitin for me. Of course it was still raining. So I could only enjoy the fat Rifman joint of the ''Tweede Kamer'' when I got home.
Peace out...
© 4-2008 Dokkie