Rotterdam

Rotterdam was “rough but honest” to Dutch magazine editor Erwin van der Zande. He contrasted its working-port identity with Amsterdam's international tourism: “Amsterdam has it, but Rotterdam doesn't need it,” as a local T-shirt slogan put it.

The birthplace of Erasmus rebuilt after Nazi bombing to become a thriving industrial port, with museums, inventive buildings and the 184-metre (605-foot) Euromast Space Tower. The city of about 600,000 had weed-selling coffeeshops too. It just didn’t have Amsterdam’s tourist culture or the same warmth toward public smoking.

Coffeeshops and cannabis

Coffeeshops included Contrabande (Van Speykstraat 194), Greenhouse (Nieuwe Binnenweg 154), De Poel (Eendrachtsweg 29), The Reefer (Oppert 1), De Kleine Ondeugd (Oostzeedijk 348), De Nieuwe Wet (Nieuwe Binnenweg 154A), Bambu High Tea, Spoenk, La Poule and Parade. Inside, people bought and smoked weed or hash.

Hash came mainly from Morocco, with other supplies said to come from North Africa, Asia and the Middle East. There was Colombian marijuana and plenty of Dutch homegrown, Nederweed. Prices were like Amsterdam: about US$4 a gram and up for weed, depending on strength, and US$6 and up for hash.

A city beyond the coffeeshops

Now and Wow were sister techno clubs at Lloydstraat 30. Hollywood Music Club at Delftsestraat 15 was billed as the country’s largest. Crazy Pianos at Maasboulevard 300 paired classic rock with sushi. After a joint of Nederweed, you could contemplate the aquarium at Blauwe Vis, Weena 33, where the fish supposedly tolerated the blasting sound system.

For bar hopping, the city hall and theater square had places close together. The old harbor was quieter. Locus Publicus at Oostzeedijk 364 had 200 beers, and Quasimodo at Schiedamsevesthof 21 was a student bar with cheap brew.

Tolerance is a distinct policy

The Dutch policy tried to separate softer drugs from more dangerous ones and protect public health. Health Minister Els Borst cited 675,000 regular soft-drug users and 25,000 people addicted to hard drugs. She argued that keeping the markets separate let people try cannabis and stop without moving on to harder drugs. Her claim about physical dependence was part of that policy argument.

NORML dated the coffeeshop rules to 1991 and said municipalities could set their tolerance levels. Shops faced limits on sales and bans on advertising or selling to minors. The government said “bona fide coffee shops have proved their worth.” Use and personal purchase were described as distinct from possession, which remained an offense even though quantities under five grams were said to be tolerated. Rotterdam police were less accommodating than Amsterdam’s about public use. Drug squad chief Jaap de Vleiger wanted the government to “stop the tolerance policy.”