A Comprehensive History of Amsterdam Coffeeshops ​(including Drug Policies in The Netherlands)
​

by Rafael Fraga
Last update: March 1, 2018

1. Amsterdam Chinatown: Beginnings
2. First Drug policies in The Netherlands: Opium Act of 1919
3. World Wars and the Industrial Production of Cocaine and Opiates
4. Amsterdam Opium Dens
5. Chinese Mobs and the "Heroin Broadway"
6. The Coffeeshops
7. Chinatown and the Buddhist temple
8. Present and Future

​The History of Amsterdam Coffeeshops (and drug policies in The Netherlands)

1900 - Chinese sailors settle in Amsterdam, setting up restaurants and opium supply. 

1900 Dutch Colonial Bank founds the Netherlands Cocaine Factory (NCF). Industrial production of cocaine starts in Amsterdam, for medical and recreational purposes.

1911 First International Opium Conference (The Hague, Netherlands). Opium trade becomes subject to agreements. 

1914 World War I: NFC sells cocaine to both sides of the conflict.

1919 - first Opium Law was created, regulating drugs with a high addiction factor

1920  NCF produced 20% of the world's cocaine. Legal restrictions start. 

1920 Amsterdam has several Chinese restaurants, shops and opium dens.

1930 NCF starts to manufacture opiates (morphine and codeine), due to the fading out of the more regulated cocaine market.

Amsterdam Chinese are mostly poor. They start selling peanut cookies on the streets. Most flew or were deported, leaving about 1000 residents.  

1940 World War II: NCF opiate sells increase. Ephedrine production starts under Nazi occupation.

1950 Chinese restaurants start to spread allover the Netherlands. 

1960 Opium becomes familiar to Dutch hash and speed consumers. 

1966 Dutch journalist Nico Polak lists “12 Chinese restaurants, four gambling houses and two opium dens” in Amsterdam’s Chinatown.

1970 As American Troops withdraw from Vietnam, Chinese heroin needs new markets.  
Amsterdam, known for its liberalism and Chinatown, is the perfect solution. The Opium Act predicted a maximum penalty of 5 years, so it was worth the risk. Chinese immigrants bring the drug in suitcases, since 
The Zeedijk becomes “The Heroin Broadway”. 

1972 - Mellow Yellow opens (first unofficial coffeeshop) 
narcotic department of the Amsterdam Police-force consisted of six cops driving en old VW-beetle

1973 Amsterdam has about 1500 hard drugs users 

The police had their hands full with the more dangerous hard drugs, so they decided to stop prosecuting the weed and hash users.

1975 - Rusland opens (First licensed coffeeshop). About 10 coffeeshops that year. Quality Marijuana was hard to find.

1976 Opium law from 1919 was finally changed. Drugs were now categorised: unacceptable health risk vs. hemp products. 30g of hashish was no longer a felony but now a misdemeanour. 

1977 Amsterdam has about 5000 hard drugs users 5000 users. 
Dutch administration takes major steps to stop the drug epidemics. 

3000 Chinese were immediately deported, leaving a gap soon filled with many small Turkish organisations. Police looses insight on the hard drugs scene.

1980 over 10.000 people in Amsterdam were addicted to heroine. Many died of overdose. After 1985, HIV/Aids arrived and the sharing of needles to inject heroine caused even more deaths. In 1985, the area around Zeedijk and Chinatown was ‘swept’ clean, to end the illegal street trade in drugs and the Chinese neighbourhood started to flourish.
Read more at https://whatsupwithamsterdam.com/amsterdam-chinatown/#JkHGaCFrsHf5pplM.99

1980, the decision to not prosecute cannabis and hashish dealers, under certain conditions, was publicly announced by the Dutch government. Many people thereby concluded that this decision would also allow the sale in coffee shops, and coffee shops began selling cannabis and hashish. This led to an enormous rise in the number of coffee shops in the 80's and 90's, and because of this, new regulations were demanded by the government to regulate the sale of cannabis products by coffee shops. In 1996 the laws were changed again to include new regulations for coffee shops. The terms coffee shops had to follow were:

No advertisement
No hard drugs
No entrance to coffee shops by persons under the age of 18
No sale of more than 5 grams of cannabis products per person, per day
Coffee shops are not allowed to have more than 500 grams of cannabis in stock at any time
Since 1996, no new changes have been made to the Opium Law.

Some cities like Amsterdam have chosen not to enforce the Dutch residency requirement in coffee shops, because they generate most of their income from tourists.  The mayor of Amsterdam made that decision based on the coalition agreement presented by the new government in October 2012

The residency requirement came into effect on January 1, 2013

Anyone who possesses or trades a small quantity of soft drugs or cultivates less than five plants for personal use will not be prosecuted.  The directive states that the offender has to relinquish the drugs and that they will be taken out of circulation.[22]  For the possession of larger amounts of soft drugs, first-time offenders incur a fine; offenders who have been caught twice will either incur a fine or community service; and offenders who have committed multiple offenses will either have to pay a fine, do community service, or serve a prison sentence.

an application for an exemption from the Opium Act for cannabis and cannabis resin can be filed with the Bureau voor Medicinale Cannabis (Office for Medicinal Cannabis Research) for reasons of public health, animal health, academic or chemical analytical research, training, or trade-related purposes.

bringing drugs into and taking them out of the territory of the Netherlands, and growing, preparing, treating, processing, selling, supplying, providing, transporting, possessing, and manufacturing drugs, is prohibited in the Netherlands.

Amsterdam implements distance requirement of 250 meters between coffeeshops and schools. Mellow Yellow is forced to close its doors. 

Some cities like Amsterdam have chosen not to enforce the Dutch residency requirement in coffee shops, because they generate most of their income from tourists. 

In 2017 in Amsterdam there are 173 coffee shops
Read more at https://whatsupwithamsterdam.com/coffeeshops-2/#V2TuJhMuATXQVOMp.99

http://www.amsterdam-advisor.com/amsterdam-coffee-shop-map.html

http://www.dutchamsterdam.nl/33-things-to-avoid-in-amsterdam

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nederlandsche_Coca%C3%AFnefabriek#World_War_I

https://www.talkingdrugs.org/opium-dens-and-the-yellow-peril

http://www.iisg.nl/collections/chinezen-zeedijk/chinezen.php

https://whatsupwithamsterdam.com/amsterdam-chinatown/

http://www.channels.nl/knowledge/24638.html

https://science.howstuffworks.com/meth2.htm

https://www.anderetijden.nl/aflevering/44/De-Heroine-epidemie

​http://www.onsamsterdam.nl/tijdschrift/jaargang-2008/26-tijdschrift/tijdschrift-jaargang-2008/252-nummer-11-12-november-december-2008?showall=&start=7

Around 1900 many Chinese seamen arrived Western ports, fleeing their country because of hunger or war. In Amsterdam they settled at the Binnen Bantammerstraat - a small street close to the harbour area. It was a relatively small compared to Rotterdam, where the largest harbour was located.

Zeedijk, Amsterdam (around 1890). Source: http://fotos.serc.nl/noord-holland/amsterdam/amsterdam-36425/