Coffee Shops / Drugs, Amsterdam

La Canna Coffeeshop cafe offers the freedom to purchase and smoke weed and hash openly without fear of persecution.

La Canna, it is a very spacious coffeeshop - it has 3 floors! There are lots of tables and floors 2 & 3 have 3 pooltables and a bar on each floor. And it's not too far from Central Station which makes it a great location.

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This was new to me. Smart shops sell harder drugs and its all legal or tolerated. They dont sell weed or hash here. Smart shops sell mushrooms and ecstasy (an herbal ecstasy) and even marijuana seeds. They also have menus of what they offer and a description of what the substance does. For example if you want to to have personal enlightenment try this... if you want something really strong try that.......
The guy behind the counter will usually tellyou how much to take and what to expect to experience etc...
We bought some mushrooms, I think it was Mexican gold. It was supposed to be middleof the road,so not too stong but not for beginners. Rob was disappointed because he didnt feel anything. Doing any of that stuff is not my thing so I didnt even try it. I was just there to take care of Rob if he needed me to. If you are going to do anyof thisstuff make sure you will be with someone you can trust and that will take care of you. Good luck.

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Amsterdam is well known for its famous coffee shops. There are 234 coffee shops in Amsterdam and the legal age to get into them is 18 years old. We went into a few coffee shops in Amsterdam. It was a different experience to say the least. I guess the laws have changed quite a bit in the last couple of years. If you smoke regular cigarettes in a coffee shop you can expect someone to get mad at you. Amsterdamers also like to mix their tobacco with their weed. That was strange to me. Rob thought it was pretty nasty.
Coffee shops have menus where you can pickout what kind weed and hash you want to smoke. They also sell papers and you can choose to borrow their bongs or pipes or vaporizers.
Some coffee shops are large and fancy and some are little holes in the walls. Robs favorite place was a very small coffee shop called the Grey Area. Two guys from New York opened that one up and according to Rob they had some of the best weed. This place was also pretty packed. After a while I had to step outside, I felt I was getting high myself and I wasnt even smoking.
The first coffee shop opened up in 1972 and many more have opened up since then. You can also only purchase up to 5 grams of weed at a coffee shop. You can have more than 5 grams of weed on you also. If you travel to Belgium and you decide totake some ofyour weed,make sure you dont have more than 3 grams on you.
The coffee shops also do not sell liquor. At some coffee shops they require you to puchase something to drink,like water,juice,soda,or coffee. Foodis usually not sold at coffee shopsbut some might sell some snacks.
At some coffee shops you have to go to a separate contained location to smoke your weed. So this whole thing is pretty controlled and there are plenty of rules to follow but where else in the world can you do this??? Rob was in heaven.

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One of the tourists' popular targets: a Coffeeshop, one from among much. Standing in front of Centraal Station there are about 40 coffeeshops within a 10-minute walk.
You can get coffee at these places too, but if that is all you want just look around for a café and you will be set.
The main attraction here is the marijuana or hash you can safely and cheaply buy from someone behind the counter, and then smoke it right there. How this all works, you can visit a coffee shop without feeling really weird about it.
The highest prices of cannabis/hash are in Amsterdam, in central location can be up to €12.00 /g for grass and €30.00/g for hash. One of the cheapest coffee shops with still good stuff is Central coffeeshop located at Prins Hendrikkade 89, a bag of 2,4g Special costs €12.50. The maximum ammount you may buy in a coffee shop is 5g per person.
To get a "grass-seed" even on the flower market. The law allows anybody to cultivate a cannabis at home.
The regulation is very funny for me: according to the law smoking a cigarette containing pure marijuana is allowed, however smoking with tobacco is strictly prohibited and fined, a €300 fine for the first offense and €2,400 for a fourth.

Never forget Netherlands is the most liberal place in Europe, legalizing sex (prostitution) and drugs (hash).

Sells pre rolled joints, conveniently distributed in little glass or plastic tubes, for $7.50 US You can also go to shops that sell nothing but MJ seeds, or mushrooms.

"Coffee shops" are allowed to sell alcohol by law, although you can go to a pub, and ask if you can smoke at their establishment .

An interesting fact that i didn't know until a few weeks ago, is that cannabis is actually ILLEGAL in the Netherlands... That said, outside of the tourists, i get the impression that there aren't that many people that smoke weed. Also, coffee shops aren't native only to Amsterdam (as i'd imagined), but can be found all over Holland.

Marijuana is legal and is served in "coffee shops". There are plenty of them near Damrak and Red Light district, and the smoke smell coming out of them can be quite strong. You will see a lot of hippie-looking happy people walking around ;) They never bothered us, but since the drugs can easily become a habit, I would not recommend venturing alone in small alleys at night, or leaving valuables unguarded.

Well, I don't like the drugs but the posibility to get it in the usual shop, - funny idea. So you can taste some light drugs in the coffeeshop and if I understood rightly you can do it if you are over 18. By the way some guys in the narrow streets in the center of the city, in evening time, offered me any sort of drugs. So, choose and I hope you won't lose your head :-)