Smoke Gets in Your Eyes
Now, I'm not a cannabis user and never have been although were it legal I probably would be. So it is with interest that I read an article in the Winston-Salem Journal on smoking in Holland.
Marijuana is technically illegal in the Netherlands but, under a long-standing practice, the police do not press charges for possession of up to 5 grams (0.176 oz) of weed by individuals and registered coffee shops may maintain an inventory of up to 500 grams (17.56 oz) for sale to customers without a hassle.
What the police do enforce is the new ban on smoking tobacco products in the coffee shops. You can still smoke a joint in the shops ... so long as the joint doesn't contain any tobacco!
Says one shop owner, "It's the world upside down: In other countries they look for the marijuana in the cigarette. Here they look for the cigarette in the marijuana."
Holland is, indeed, a most interesting country with a long-standing practice protecting personal freedoms by ignoring victimless crimes.
In Holland, squatting (called "adverse possession" in Common Law) is fairly common. If a building has not been used for a year and the owner has no plans (contract to rent, for example) to use in within a month, the non-owning squatters (the "disseisors") can live in it provided they have a bed, a chair, a table and a working lock in the door ("adverse possession" proof of permanent occupation). The squatter simply sends the owner a letter indicating that they are squatting (exercising the "doctrine of laches") and invite the police to confirm that the items listed above are present (thus confirming their rights of "adverse possession"). Thereafter, the squatter has the same rights to use and privacy as would the owner.
It's estimated that about one person in every seven throughout the world are squatters and "adverse possession" has a legal precedence in the United States as well.
Marijuana is technically illegal in the Netherlands but, under a long-standing practice, the police do not press charges for possession of up to 5 grams (0.176 oz) of weed by individuals and registered coffee shops may maintain an inventory of up to 500 grams (17.56 oz) for sale to customers without a hassle.
What the police do enforce is the new ban on smoking tobacco products in the coffee shops. You can still smoke a joint in the shops ... so long as the joint doesn't contain any tobacco!
Says one shop owner, "It's the world upside down: In other countries they look for the marijuana in the cigarette. Here they look for the cigarette in the marijuana."
Holland is, indeed, a most interesting country with a long-standing practice protecting personal freedoms by ignoring victimless crimes.
In Holland, squatting (called "adverse possession" in Common Law) is fairly common. If a building has not been used for a year and the owner has no plans (contract to rent, for example) to use in within a month, the non-owning squatters (the "disseisors") can live in it provided they have a bed, a chair, a table and a working lock in the door ("adverse possession" proof of permanent occupation). The squatter simply sends the owner a letter indicating that they are squatting (exercising the "doctrine of laches") and invite the police to confirm that the items listed above are present (thus confirming their rights of "adverse possession"). Thereafter, the squatter has the same rights to use and privacy as would the owner.
It's estimated that about one person in every seven throughout the world are squatters and "adverse possession" has a legal precedence in the United States as well.
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