Hallucinogenic mushrooms have been selling in Holland’s “smart shops” for the past 2 decades, but after some high-profile incidents, they won’t be for long.
The mushroom ban fits into a wider crackdown on Holland’s lenient soft-drug policy. For more than three decades the Dutch state has tolerated the purchase and use of marijuana. But after reaching its peak in 2000, the Dutch drug gospel is starting to lose strength. Holland’s world-famous “coffee shops” are facing ever more restrictions. Over the last decade their number has dropped by 40 percent.
There is resistance to the proposed ban argues that the illegal drug trade is more dangerous than a mushroom trip. The Dutch government has tested ecstasy pills at parties and provided clean heroin syringes in recent years.
If you are going to Amsterdam to smoke pot, brush up on the rules first. A nationwide smoking ban (tobacco too) is going into effect July 2008.
