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Re: my view?
The one at cafe 420.
PotHead
I bring my own + 1
only when danos in town
I like the one in the store front by twede kamer
I like the kitties that live on the houseboat hotel.
I imagine that the pussy quality in Amsterdam has to be pretty high.
I was wondering what everyone's favorite is in the city?
sssssssshhhhhhhhhhhh LOL
Yeah ones with blue light means premium !!!
There is some Thai hooker with big fake titties who sucks a mean cock.
The one at cafe 420.
PotHead
I like that one too. You're talking about a cat, right? lol
If not then I'll pull an Emily Litella and say: "Nevermind". ;-)
yeah premium pole-sniffing, and pillow biting. Roflmfao!
Paid for pussy is always a disappointment unless you're the kind of person that doesn't mind sticking your member in a trash can just to get off. I've done the Pay-4-Play thing all over Asia: Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam... everywhere.. It's never any good. Find a women that likes you and even the worst sex with her will be better than the best professional sex.
i smell a pedofile in here!
ppl whom go to asia for sex are should all be jailed!
only pedofiles go there and have sex !!!
What nonsense are you on about?
Papacholi, you've obviously never had the privilege of meeting my ex
Oh wait, you did say 'likes you'
i smell a pedofile in here!
ppl whom go to asia for sex are should all be jailed!
only pedofiles go there and have sex !!!
Bloedstraat yes?
PotHead
@Kiwi:
Nol,
I usually pick up the tabs alone, but this one will cost me a lot of cash, or my future as a coffeeshop entrepreneur, a profession I am very proud off.
Nol van Schaik.
Good attitude mate well done.
Is there anything that a foreign person can do to help in any way?
Nol, Are there many other large scale coffeeshops near the boarders, How busy are they compared to Amsterdam?
Checkpoint was by far the bestseller of coffeeshops, there are none like that. Maastricht nas a few big ones, they come closest to Checkpoint.
The Amsterdam cofeeshops are many,280, Maastricht has only 15, with an ongoing inflow of German, Belgian and French customers.
Amsterdam gets an other type of tourist, they usually fly in, consume their gear at the shops and hotelrooms, and move on back, without carrying any cannabis home.
That makes Maastricht the High Hit these days, 9 border area coffeeshop have been shut doen last year.
Not even the Greenhouse can come close to some of the big ones in Maastricht, tourism in Amstedam is declining, while more foreigners flood our decreasing number of coffeeshops in the South..
so he was fined this because he had 200 kilograms on his premisies instead of the alloted 500 grams?
No, he was closed, forever, for having the big load around, even the real estate is under the Prosecutors confiscation.
He lost his license permanently, because he has a criminal record now.
He paid tax all the way, but that was not enough, he had to be eliminated.
"Make them an offer they cannot refuse"
I'd better lay low, they might send Eliott Hash after me...
thats a bummer to say the least.
"Make them an offer they cannot refuse"
The only rule they broke was having a stash of around 90 kilo's, twice. no other offenses....
No so much, considering he sold half that amount every week, in 5 gram deals with 3 dealers. Where else should he have put it, it is not allowed in any other place as well.
He needed to be taken down, in view of Belgium and Europe, there is no reason in and for this, now we have 100 more people unemployed, and the Treasure will no longer receive 8 millions a year from Checkpoint.
The Dutch Justice department has managed, once again, to create a loss/loss situation.
Nol Capone,
Ganja Gang Boss.
But a 10 million Euro fine?
How do they come up with that figure?
Even in the big, bad USA the fine for posession (at least in NY State) is only a few hundred dollars I believe.
Keep fighting the bastards Nol, just keep things smooth until California legalises and the Berlin Wall of cannabis law madness begins to crumble around the world!
Nol, Are there many other large scale coffeeshops near the boarders, How busy are they compared to Amsterdam?
I often think there are ulterior motives when things like this happen out of the blue, has belgium put significant pressure for somthing to be done about this? Could it be a signature gesture to show that they are doing somthing?
I assume more than 3g was being sold and maybe more than the 5g dutch 'allowance' it seems they broke many Laws some minor some significant if found guilty.
If they knew it was happening then they must have been eyeballing place mystery shoppers etc and again assume that the majority of cs's operate within the LAW so they would have little to worry about unless this over rules current tolerance laws ?
I wish you luck in your current legal battles and any future ones (hopefully none) and am looking forward to hitting your indica stre soon.
Dear Nol Capone,
Being from Chicago.......I love you.
ChiChi Dillinger
@Kiwi:
Nol,
What are your personal views on this decision and the likely short term effects on the industry if any?
First of all, since last Thursday I am a leader of a criminal organization, and if the Checkpoint crew does not appeal to a higher Court, I will probably stay one forever.
That has a lot of implications.
I am worried, with and about my staff, because one day the hammer may fall for them, to brand them members of Nol Capone’s criminal organization.
The solution for this problem would be to send our staff to an employment agency (uitzendbureau) and then hire them back from the agency, that would keep them in the clear. If I really have to do this, the Dutch Tolerance Policy will be as useless and dead as Harry Anslinger.
Maddy always paid his taxes, millions per year, and the Tax people never reported his nigh sales to the authorities, they just collected and collected…
The fine consists of the money he made on sales to foreigners, after taxes, they could not take his profits over the sales of cannabis to Dutch nationals, after taxes. He has been robbed of his money, with the excuse of sales to Belgians mainly.
The Belgian government allows possession of up to 3 grams of cannabis in their country, but they do not allow the sales of cannabis in their country. Because of this Belgian cannabis policy and the desire of many Belgians to smoke cannabis, the Belgian government actually forces its citizens to go to Dutch coffeeshops to score weed and hash.
So, the Belgian government is guilty of provoking all these border area problems, not the coffeeshops which happen to be located near Belgium. They should be taken to court too, European Court, in their own Brussels.
I can only hope the Checkpoint crew appeals against this decision, and their Lawyer should charge the Dutch Tax Office for fencing, they have accepted criminal money for years, millions per year, without reporting the huge sales of Checkpoint to the proper authorities.
They collected a bundle, and now they took more from Maddy, because it is Belgian money.
The Terneuzen city councilors that have served during the years Checkpoint was in business, should also be taken to court, they made Maddy’s mega coffeeshops a tourist destination, by putting up traffic signs leading to the biggest cannabis coffeeshop in the Universe, to direct the Belgian smokers there.
I will go on the way I planned, I am long preparing a mayor court case against the Dutch Ministry of Justice, one against the Dutch Ministry of Economics will follow on that. Our Lawyer, Mr. Maurice Veldman, a coffeeshop defense specialist, representing most Amsterdam en Haarlem coffeeshops, will launch the attack with me.
This needs to be done before the 9 June elections, so the new people in charge know what they are up to. Wish me luck, I will need some.
Oh, and I am pretty pissed off, I consider Maddy as the great guy he is, a hippie with a great business plan, and I feel personally offended by pronouncing him, our colleagues and myself gang bosses.
I hope some colleagues are ready to share the Lawyer bill, for a change,
I usually pick up the tabs alone, but this one will cost me a lot of cash, or my future as a coffeeshop entrepreneur, a profession I am very proud off.
Nol van Schaik.
@ BT; Nol,
I don't understand the following quote from the news article: "Cannabis cultivation and mass retail...are in the hands of criminal organisations in a black-market business worth some two billion euros per year."
This is the export market, they ship cannabis by hundreds of kilo's, making it more dangerous and criminal than dealing in a kilo and a half. like coffeeshops do.
It has very little to do with coffeeshops, but yet, so much.
We buy from the same market as the exporters, but they set the price for the whole market. If an exporter offers 4.5 for a kilo, I can not buy that kilo for less, I have to pay export prices at the backdoor, or run out of weed. After that, the tax man orders us to make a 100 % profit, so the coffeeshops have no say in the price level of cannabis whatsoeever.
Crime pays, more than coffeseshops....they pay tax.
Nol,
I don't understand the following quote from the news article: "Cannabis cultivation and mass retail...are in the hands of criminal organisations in a black-market business worth some two billion euros per year." While I'm sure organized crime is involved to some extent in the coffeeshop business, the quote makes it sound like walking into a coffeeshop is like walking into a crack house run by the mob. I find it hard to believe that shops such as Grey Area, Greenhouse, Barneys, and Amnesia...which are all some of the most popular tourist shops, are run by organized crime...I've met the owners...it just really doesn't seem likely to me. Is there an underside to these seemingly mom and pop type shops that exists?
Thats quite a large amount over the 500g they are supposed to have on site.
maybe coffeshops will only have 500g in store in short term, this could lead to smaller menu. but could the main weight not be close at hand to resupply as needed but not on cs premises ?
Intresting that they appear to be clamping down on it, thing is with tolerance people always push it further n further until it appears to be the norm and are then shocked when its not tolerated anymore.
so they flaunted many laws dodged tax and were knowingly supplying traffickers. dont thing this is general pactice ? So yeah he got what he deserved if a legitimate cs opperates within the 'tolerance' guidelines then there shouldnt be a problem
I dont see how this is 'open season' by the sounds of it quite a bit of investigation has gone into it. we'll have to wait and see if anymore happen.
Its about a lot more than having more than 500g on site. This is the first time, I think, that they have actually busted the whole organisation and it means its open season on coffeeshops.
______________________________________________________
Coffee shop owner sentenced for running criminal organisation:
The owner of the Netherlands' largest cannabis-selling coffee shop was convicted for running a criminal organisation that purchased large quantities of drugs and processed and stored them. On Thursday, Meddy Willemsen, of the Checkpoint coffee shop in the southern border town Terneuzen, was given a 10 milion euro fine.
The Middelburg district court ruled the cafe regularly had more than the legal limit of 500 grammes of cannabis on its premises. It also found it had been proven employees knew their customers took the wares across the border to countries were possession of the drugs is illegal. The coffee shop consistently broke the rules of the so-called Dutch 'tolerance policy', which regulates the sale and use of cannabis. This made the judge decide Checkpoint couldn’t call on that policy to defend its practices.
Meanwhile, the court also established that the municipality, police and public prosecutors facilitated its operations. While coffee shops are forbidden from advertising in any way, the municipality placed signs directing customers to Checkpoint. Tax authorities were aware that large quantities of drugs were stored there and job centres referred unemployed people to the coffee shop to apply for jobs.
Therefore, managers and employees of the now closed cafe received mild sentences of a few weeks at most. Because several had already spent time in pre-trial detention, no one will have to go to prison.
Willemse's fine was determined based on the estimated profits he made: 28 million euros. He paid taxes over only half of that. In establishing the amount to be paid, the court also took into account the facilitating role of the local authorities. "Without it," a court statement read. "Willemsen would not have been able to make these profits."
______________________________________________________
Nol, ill try supporting u by visiting your store n buying lots of weed.
But surely like minded cs owners with same concerns as you would be better pooling funds and resources in some way?
Im hoping to be there for 420 but may be little later hope things are looking brighter by then.
Dutch court fines coffee shop owner 10 million euros
The government mooted plans last year to transform coffee shops near the Belgian border into private clubs, to address what critics describe as the nuisance created by millions of drug tourists a year.
THE HAGUE, March 25, 2010 (AFP) - A Dutch court fined the owner of the Netherlands' biggest cannabis-vending coffee shop 10 million euros on Thursday after police seized more than 200 kilogrammes of the drug on its premises.
The 13-million-dollar penalty would have been larger, the district court of southwestern Middelburg said in a statement, had it not been for the authorities' apparently contradictory approach to soft drug vending and use.
While finding that coffee shop Checkpoint was a criminal organisation that had transgressed the Opium Act, the court said "the role of the authorities weighed heavily in the determination of the sentence".
This included the "facilitating role of the municipality, of which the prosecution service had been aware, and years of non-enforcement of the law", according to the judgment.
The prosecution had sought a 28-million-euro fine for Checkpoint owner Meddy Willemsen, but the court said the authorities' role in the establishment's longstanding success justified a lighter punishment.
Willemsen, 58, was tried with 15 others, including former employees and suppliers of his coffee shop in Terneuzen near the Belgian border, for drug trafficking and involvement in a criminal organisation.
He also received a nine-week effective prison sentence, which he had already served while awaiting trial.
Sentences for the other 15 ranged from mere warnings for those who "rolled the joints" and delivered the cannabis, to six-week jail terms, already served, for the manager and three vendors, Willemsen's lawyer Andre Beckers told AFP.
Police seized over 200 kilogrammes (440 pounds) of cannabis on Checkpoint's premises in 2007 and 2008.
The Checkpoint trial, described by prosecutors as the biggest of its kind, was widely viewed as a test case in a country that has been toughening its stance on soft drug use.
The capital, Amsterdam, has said it will halve its number of coffee shops, citing criminality, while other cities are closing shops within a certain distance from schools.
Though it remains technically illegal, the Netherlands decriminalised the consumption and possession of under five grammes (0.18 ounces) of cannabis in 1976 under a"tolerance" policy.
Cannabis cultivation and mass retail remain illegal and are in the hands of criminal organisations in a black-market business worth some two billion euros per year.
About 700 licenced coffee shops countrywide are permitted to stock no more than 500 grammes of the soft drug at any given time, but this limit is often flouted.
Before shutting its doors in May 2008, Checkpoint counted up to 3,000 customers a day, mainly French and Belgian.
The judges said police had known for years that Checkpoint had thousands of daily visitors a day, and the proof of its growth was evident in regular tax filings.
"It surprises the court that in spite of the information the authorities had about Checkpoint, they never acted", until an "unexpected" shift led to the raids.
"The court has searched the dossier in vain for a reason for the change in the authorities' thinking," said the judgment.
AFP/Expatica
Nol,
What are your personal views on this decision and the likely short term effects on the industry if any?
thanks
".....
They are fining him 10 million Euros for merely having more cannabis in his coffeeshop than is legally allowed?
Sounds excessive to me.
There must be more to this story.
There is....
Court ruling to herald cannabis clampdown?
Many of today’s papers cover the verdict of a high-profile court case with major implications for the liberal Dutch policy on soft drugs. As de Volkskrant reports, the case centres on Checkpoint, once the biggest coffee shop selling soft drugs in the Netherlands before it was closed down by police for having illegal amounts of soft drugs on the premises. The owner and 15 workers and suppliers have been found guilty of forming a criminal organisation involved in the large-scale purchasing, transport and export of cannabis. But the sentences they were given were relatively mild, since the court found that the government had done nothing to stop the organisation - “in fact they encouraged it to growâ€.
De Telegraaf argues that the case “shows just what a dramatic state our so-called policy of tolerance is inâ€. It points out that the local authorities helped Checkpoint “to grow into a mega coffee shop employing no less than 100 staff, twice as many as the local Hema department store!†It continues: “The local council even put up signs to show drugs tourists where to go and encouraged the unemployed to take a job with this hash gang.†The paper concludes: “Tolerance was stretched so far that it effectively became aiding and abetting.â€
De Volkskrant warns that “the sentence heralds open hunting season on large-scale coffee shops†and talks to a national spokesman for coffee shops who calls the ruling “a slap in the face†and “a very dangerous verdictâ€. But De Telegraaf is rubbing its hands with glee: “Now all we have to do is wait for the nationwide launch of this new approach so that we can rid ourselves of this out-of-control coffee-shop culture once and for all.â€
"The judges said police had known for years that Checkpoint had thousands of daily visitors a day, and the proof of its growth was evident in regular tax filings.
"It surprises the court that in spite of the information the authorities had about Checkpoint, they never acted", until an "unexpected" shift led to the raids.
"The court has searched the dossier in vain for a reason for the change in the authorities' thinking," said the judgment."
They are fining him 10 million Euros for merely having more cannabis in his coffeeshop than is legally allowed?
Sounds excessive to me.
There must be more to this story.
so he was fined this because he had 200 kilograms on his premisies instead of the alloted 500 grams?
Dutch court fines coffee shop owner 10 million euros
The government mooted plans last year to transform coffee shops near the Belgian border into private clubs, to address what critics describe as the nuisance created by millions of drug tourists a year.
THE HAGUE, March 25, 2010 (AFP) - A Dutch court fined the owner of the Netherlands' biggest cannabis-vending coffee shop 10 million euros on Thursday after police seized more than 200 kilogrammes of the drug on its premises.
The 13-million-dollar penalty would have been larger, the district court of southwestern Middelburg said in a statement, had it not been for the authorities' apparently contradictory approach to soft drug vending and use.
While finding that coffee shop Checkpoint was a criminal organisation that had transgressed the Opium Act, the court said "the role of the authorities weighed heavily in the determination of the sentence".
This included the "facilitating role of the municipality, of which the prosecution service had been aware, and years of non-enforcement of the law", according to the judgment.
The prosecution had sought a 28-million-euro fine for Checkpoint owner Meddy Willemsen, but the court said the authorities' role in the establishment's longstanding success justified a lighter punishment.
Willemsen, 58, was tried with 15 others, including former employees and suppliers of his coffee shop in Terneuzen near the Belgian border, for drug trafficking and involvement in a criminal organisation.
He also received a nine-week effective prison sentence, which he had already served while awaiting trial.
Sentences for the other 15 ranged from mere warnings for those who "rolled the joints" and delivered the cannabis, to six-week jail terms, already served, for the manager and three vendors, Willemsen's lawyer Andre Beckers told AFP.
Police seized over 200 kilogrammes (440 pounds) of cannabis on Checkpoint's premises in 2007 and 2008.
The Checkpoint trial, described by prosecutors as the biggest of its kind, was widely viewed as a test case in a country that has been toughening its stance on soft drug use.
The capital, Amsterdam, has said it will halve its number of coffee shops, citing criminality, while other cities are closing shops within a certain distance from schools.
Though it remains technically illegal, the Netherlands decriminalised the consumption and possession of under five grammes (0.18 ounces) of cannabis in 1976 under a"tolerance" policy.
Cannabis cultivation and mass retail remain illegal and are in the hands of criminal organisations in a black-market business worth some two billion euros per year.
About 700 licenced coffee shops countrywide are permitted to stock no more than 500 grammes of the soft drug at any given time, but this limit is often flouted.
Before shutting its doors in May 2008, Checkpoint counted up to 3,000 customers a day, mainly French and Belgian.
The judges said police had known for years that Checkpoint had thousands of daily visitors a day, and the proof of its growth was evident in regular tax filings.
"It surprises the court that in spite of the information the authorities had about Checkpoint, they never acted", until an "unexpected" shift led to the raids.
"The court has searched the dossier in vain for a reason for the change in the authorities' thinking," said the judgment.
AFP/Expatica
so he was fined this because he had 200 kilograms on his premisies instead of the alloted 500 grams?
No, he was closed, forever, for having the big load around, even the real estate is under the Prosecutors confiscation.
He lost his license permanently, because he has a criminal record now.
He paid tax all the way, but that was not enough, he had to be eliminated.
Ludicrous laws, how unbelievably fucking unfair!! Get 'em, Nol.
The only rule they broke was having a stash of around 90 kilo's, twice. no other offenses....
No so much, considering he sold half that amount every week, in 5 gram deals with 3 dealers. Where else should he have put it, it is not allowed in any other place as well.
He needed to be taken down, in view of Belgium and Europe, there is no reason in and for this, now we have 100 more people unemployed, and the Treasure will no longer receive 8 millions a year from Checkpoint.
The Dutch Justice department has managed, once again, to create a loss/loss situation.
Nol Capone,
Ganja Gang Boss.
So the Dutch justice department has not only lost its mind, it is talking out of both sides of it's mouth?
"their Lawyer should charge the Dutch Tax Office for fencing, they have accepted criminal money for years, millions per year, without reporting the huge sales of Checkpoint to the proper authorities.
They collected a bundle, and now they took more from Maddy, because it is Belgian money."
The government knew full well what was going on for years, collected millions in tax revenue, and due to a change in the political winds this guy is running a "criminal enterprise"? Amazing.
Absolutely astounding. How do these people sleep at night?
It is extremely confusing to me; the US may be on the verge of legalization, while at the same time the Europeans appear to be moving in the exact opposite direction.
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