Cannabis Cup Raided

Guess dutch cops raided the place today. Searching people, guess they are checking if people are over the limit for personal pot, including vendors.
Some guy saying he was a lawyer for the event said things were all cool and it was a permit misunderstanding. From my experience, permits are exactly how the town uses its fire department and cops to shut venues down. Be it clubs parties and maybe this event.

Sucks

Kinda screwed up they did it at the time they did.


Dutch Authorities Raid High Times Cannabis Cup in Amsterdam
By Dana Larsen, Cannabis Culture - Wednesday, November 23 2011
TAGS: CC MAGAZINE FEATURE ARTICLES HEADLINE NEWS AMSTERDAM CANNABIS CUP HIGH TIMES CANNABIS CUP
CANNABIS CULTURE - Dozens of dutch cops filled the expo hall hosting the High Times Cannabis Cup, confiscating marijuana and shutting down the event.
Shortly before 4:20pm today, Dutch police and revenue agents raided the High Times Cannabis Cup Expo in Amsterdam.

Dozens of uniformed officers quickly occupied the building and separated the hundreds of attendees from exhibitors, who were instructed to remain at their tables.

Read an earlier report from Cannabis Culture and see video of the raid in progress.

Officers were polite and efficient – all armed, but no guns were drawn. I asked one why this was happening and he told me undercover police had investigated the Expo yesterday and seen violations of the Opium Act. He cited things such as some people giving away free samples of bud and hash, offering bong hits to promote their business, and so on.

Dutch rules allow only the sale of marijuana and hash from licensed coffeeshops. They are prohibited from selling customers more than 5g each per day, and cannot have more than 100g on the premises at any time. Individual possession is supposed to be kept under the 5g limit as well. Dutch coffeeshops are also prohibited from promoting or advertising themselves.

It took about two hours for police to clear the hall. Everyone was searched before being allowed to leave, and all marijuana and hash was confiscated.

There were about 50 police officers on site, and about two dozen tax agents wearing reflective green jackets. The tax agents questioned exhibitors about their products, sales and receipts. I saw some exhibitors being questioned as their cannabis was put into plastic evidence bags by uniformed officers.


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At this point it looks like the Expo portion of the Cannabis Cup is over. I expect that evening entertainment scheduled at the Melkweg club will still take place as planned.

Legal Status

The status of cannabis law in Holland is often debated, but change happens slowly. The licensing and control of coffeeshops is done largely at the municipal level. Some cities do not have any, others have only a few, while Amsterdam has over 300. That may seem like a lot, but the number is down from over 800 a few years ago.

Holland's current federal government is less friendly to the coffeeshop scene and has been pressuring cities to restrict marijuana sales to Dutch citizens. They want coffeeshops to become private clubs, with a record kept of all sales made to every member. Some border towns have already gone this route, largely in response to concerns about German tourists returning home with pockets full of Dutch weed and hash.

Watch Cannabis Culture for more updates as information becomes available.

Dana Larsen is the former editor of Cannabis Culture and founder and operator of the The Vancouver Medicinal Cannabis Dispensary.

Man I hate the Governments bro they can all go suck a dick there ruining freedom we need to rise up like egypt in shit Lol

Dammm cops got away with all that smoke. The best smoke on the planet and leo just takes it like that sounds like back home.

HIGH TIMES Cannabis Cup Raided in Amsterdam
We broke the news on NORML SHOW LIVE this morning and spoke with Tim Martin of John Doe Radio, who has been in contact with numerous attendees in Amsterdam, including Scott from Rare Dankness Seeds, who called in live to the show (listen here). According to Scott, much of the Dutch concern is over the concentrates – butane hash oil, for instance – that is considered a “hard drug” in Holland.

“They herded everybody toward one exit, like you’re getting on a ski lift at Vail… then one by one they had about 40 cops there for a little talk and search… People were dropping grams and grams of hash on the ground… baggies littering the floor… people were smoking it if you had it because you weren’t rolling out with it!”
According to Scott there has been one arrest of a vendor who was caught with a lot of “shake” (leaves and stems) which, according to Dutch law, are to be immediately disposed of. Other reports indicate that there were checks of individuals to ensure they weren’t violating the 5-gram personal possession limit and checks of vendors for compliance with the 500-gram vendor possession limit.

It should be noted that none of this is precipitated by any change in Dutch law. These limits on personal and vendor possession, disposal of trimmings, and prohibitions on cannabis concentrates have existed throughout the 24-year history of the Cannabis Cup.

What has changed is a new, more conservative government in the Netherlands that seeks to “send a message” about cannabis use. They began with the closing of border coffee shops to all but Dutch, Belgian, and German passport holders, claiming that “foreign drug tourism” was leading to a host of social ills.

HerbCultivator said:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_u7rTMLo5WY

Click to expand...

Check it HerbC. You can post the vid right here using the video link button next to the picture link button:
[video=youtube;mbRLiV47oJ0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbRLiV47oJ0[/video]
[video=youtube;_u7rTMLo5WY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_u7rTMLo5WY[/video]

nother thred on this site here if a mod can combine them

https://www.rollitup.org/marijuana-news-around-globe/489559-cannabis-cup-busted.html#post6673645

wow I'm speechless, to harass peaceful people stimulating the economy and uniting nations in friendship is a disgrace!

Big DUH!!! Couldn't see it coming like a Mack truck? The politicians changed the laws earlier this year. What did folks think was going to happen?

it was a simple fact of no permit...and it wasnt in the city of amsterdam it was in asmtelborch ....let me tell you it was a def not fun experience.

It doesn't matter waht city it was in, non-citizens are banned from cannabis purchases/use by the political machine since late last year.