Vienna

Law Enforcement

Vienna could feel relaxed about marijuana, but a quiet night in the city and a police search on an international train are two different things.

“In the late ’90s, I was busted in Austria for bringing a sack from Amsterdam on the train to Hungary. They woke me early with a knock on my door. I opened it to find two military-style police officers with submachine guns asking to search my bags.

“I was drowsy and gave permission. I didn’t think they’d find it, but they were incredibly thorough, searching between the pages of books and squeezing out my toothpaste. The room started reeking of skunk, so I fessed up.

“They asked what else I had, so I showed them a huge knife I’d bought in Nepal. That wasn’t a problem, but I was taken to the station and had to sign a confession for the weed. They processed me: photos, prints, the works. Then they let me go, minus the herb, and told me I’d pleaded guilty with a suspended sentence. If I got caught there again, it would be straight to prison.

“The cops were pretty cool, but I’d be careful in Austria. Remember: always keep it on your person, never in your bags! That way, you have a chance to ditch it—or, if they search your bags and find nothing, you probably won’t get a body search. Be safe!”

Where to Buy Marijuana

Camera was the pub to try. At Bush Planet, the local headshop, people sometimes struck up conversations with other shoppers.

Marijuana Prices

€10 a gram, max. In the schilling days a gram of pot or hash went for 100–130 schillings, roughly US$6–8 at the time.

More Information

Think Vienna is all blue hairs dozing off to chamber music? There’s weed, there are late nights, and there are places where the sound and the room are as much of the experience as the smoke. The authorities weren’t as relaxed about it as people imagined they were in Prague.

Once the seat of the Habsburgs and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Vienna sits on the Danube in northeastern Austria. It’s an architectural jewel associated with Napoleon, Mozart and Sigmund Freud, the sexed-up psychoanalyst who reportedly knew a thing or two about drugs himself. At the time, Vienna accounted for about 1.6 million of Austria’s eight million residents.

“Marijuana gets all my love,” said a local named Haze. At the time of that report, a gram of pot or hash was quoted at 100–130 Austrian schillings, then roughly US$6–8. Prices rose with pedigree. One unhappy visitor declared that “the quality of all drugs is poor,” while another praised reasonably priced homegrown weed from Upper Austria: “This’ll make your day.”

Don’t skip the classical side: the Vienna Boys’ Choir, lavish New Year’s balls and the opera house. Bailey’s ideal moment for a joint was “just before a performance by a great symphony orchestra at the Vienna Opera House. Sound plus ambiance.”

Then there was the annual Free Party on Ring Street: hip-hop and techno blaring, dancers in silver body paint and purple wigs, and a night that stretched into the morning.

The “Bermuda Triangle” was the cluster of bars and clubs around Rabensteig, Seitenstettengasse and Ruprechtsplatz. Slammer Bar held down Seitenstettengasse 5. At Volksgarten, Burgring 1, there was a bar, beer and wine garden, disco and live music outdoors.

“The atmosphere here was incredible,” said a visitor named Solbeam, although popularity came at a price: “Admission was more than my hostel.”

At Shebeen, Lerchenfelderstraße 4–7, Sunday meant The Simpsons. Tuesday was the “bladder buster”: 15-schilling beers (about US$1) until somebody broke the seal. Tunnel, Florianigasse 39, drew students with live music daily and cheap eats for the munchies. Pandora’s Box, Kurzgasse 6, had couches for the post-smoke slump. Other stops included Centimeter I and II at Lerchenfelderstraße 4–7, Paddy O’Brien’s on Passauer Platz, Blue Box at Richtergasse 8, Nachtasyl at Stumpergasse 53 and P1 at Rotgasse 9.

Flex was one of the hot dance clubs of the time. Take the U2 or U4 to Schottenring and you’re by the Danube Canal near Augartenbrücke. The area around the club had a reputation for street dealing. Keep your wits about you.

“It’s all illegal. You’ll get arrested and locked up if they catch you with anything,” said Vienna journalist Michael Leidig. At the time NORML said first-time cannabis reports could be withdrawn, with later penalties depending on the quantity and ranging from a fine to six months in prison.

Peter Hacker, then a United Nations drugs coordinator in Vienna, saw things differently: “If someone only smokes a bit of hash and has no further problems, we don’t take the issue further. There is no one in prison in Vienna for using hash.” See Marijuana Laws for the legal overview.

Leidig said the police chief believed drug use was “endemic in black people” and alleged that Black people were routinely stopped, businessmen and unhoused people alike. “If you come across the border and you’re black, there’s a 90 percent chance you’ll get searched for drugs.” That was Leidig’s warning, not a measured rate.