sjefThu, Jun 26, 2008 ZoeWiseman: Technically, it is illegal in the Netherlands. Small amounts on your person, or a number of plants in your home are tolerated by law, as is the storage of a certain amount on the premises of coffeeshops for sale.
Strangely enough though, up to the moment it passes through the coffeeshop door, it is just as illegal as any other drug in its class. Growers & dealers still get busted.
Hemp (bred for fibre, not THC) is (or was) tolerated for growth by farmers to a certain extent (last I saw, which was 4 years ago though), and that gets used for the production of various products, but it's on nowhere near the scale necessary to 'compete' with their non-hemp equivalents. Basically almost everything made of hemp is sold as novelty, it's consuming audience consisting mostly of the culture referred to by dimitridb. Stoners and eco save-the-world types.
ZoeWiseman: Technically, it is illegal in the Netherlands. Small amounts on your person, or a number of plants in your home are tolerated by law, as is the storage of a certain amount on the premises of coffeeshops for sale.
Strangely enough though, up to the moment it passes through the coffeeshop door, it is just as illegal as any other drug in its class. Growers & dealers still get busted.
Hemp (bred for fibre, not THC) is (or was) tolerated for growth by farmers to a certain extent (last I saw, which was 4 years ago though), and that gets used for the production of various products, but it's on nowhere near the scale necessary to 'compete' with their non-hemp equivalents. Basically almost everything made of hemp is sold as novelty, it's consuming audience consisting mostly of the culture referred to by dimitridb. Stoners and eco save-the-world types.