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Joen pauses briefly on the Skinny Bridge crossing the Amstel between site visits of coffeeshops in Amsterdam.
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Scholar's Journal
Greetings from the front lines of the cannabis debate currently raging on the streets of San Francisco.
I awoke on the first research workday following our retreat to find that the Supreme Court (after sitting on the decision for years) had ruled that medical marijuana is officially illegal, even in states (California +10 others) that have passed laws legalizing it for medical use.When I began to look into this research idea in January, the only information I could find on the subject in popular media was tiny little paragraphs buried deep into newspapers somewhere on page 20 or so, many months old. My "hidden in plain view" thesis seemed so appropriate for all these little dispensaries existing just below the radar of neighbors and local government. NOW, it is front page news! Panicked, I called my mentor to see what I was to do if all the clubs suddenly closed up and went away. Professor Groth, seasoned with the ebb and flow and roller-coaster ride of research assured me not to panic, and that this was EXCITING and that there would be plenty for me to write on over the course of the coming months. He said I should be patient and give the clubs some time to let the frenzy settle, and in the meantime, keep up my observations of clubs that were closing or changing their appearance drastically in response to the ruling.
All was going along nicely with the Bay Area rallying together to continue the use of medical marijuana, with advocates, patients, and even local public figures swearing to keep the clubs in place to allow access for those in need. Until...
Last Wednesday when I got word that 3 local clubs were raided and shut down along with 19 people arrested - by the DEA. I was freaking out that perhaps my fear of doom was coming true - that by the time I returned from Amsterdam, there would no longer be any cultural cannabis landscape comparisons left to make with the Bay Area! Subsequent reports have shown that it was an isolated situation with a group of people abusing the medical pot situation, and other club owners have stood in support of the raids and crackdown to eliminate those who are ruining the situation for those who really need it.
The situation is still very tenuous and not many people have been willing to speak with me (yet), so I am taking my oh-so-wise mentor's advice and being patient, and continuing to observe and document all I see and to track the rise and fall of public outcry and media coverage about my no longer hidden cultural landscape.
August 2005
Aside from all the rain and the inability to get very good photos, my research in Amsterdam has gone well.
Amsterdam is a melting pot of cultures and interests, and the Dutch have a long history of tolerance, which has enabled the lenient policies on drugs and sex which still persist here. The odd thing though, is that these things which are taboo in most of the rest of the world do not cause any additional disturbance or problems here in this tiny tolerant country.
I have discovered that this tolerance of others feels almost like disinterest, and being a friendly American, I have struggled with not taking the abrupt interactions personally. The Dutch are a very pragmatic and efficient people and feel that “niceties” can be too much fluff. I have had a few excellent interviews, but have found that most of the people that work in the coffeeshops (this is the official name for legal cannabis selling shops) I’m researching have very little interest or opinions about the culture itself. Perhaps it is not practical to ponder the existence of their shops, since they simply just “are”?
I have been here long enough to have gotten a good feel for the city and the culture surrounding the coffeeshops and cannabis, and look forward to getting back to the Bay Area to apply what I’ve discovered here.
