Coffeeshops have been a big part of Amsterdam since the 1970s, when the Dutch government made a clear distinction in the law
between 'hard' and 'soft' drugs. Amsterdam coffeeshops have always existed in a legal
grey area. Today Amsterdam's City Council, through agreement with the coffeeshop union Bond van Cannabis Detaillisten
(BCD), allows coffeeshops to operate with the provision of set, non-transferable licences – shown by the display of an
official, green and white sticker in the window.
Under the current Amsterdam drug laws, Amsterdam coffeeshops are allowed to sell a maximum of five grams of cannabis per person to
their customers, providing the customers can present identification to show that they are over 18 years old. This can be
quite strict in many coffeeshops, so be prepared to prove your age, even if you haven't been carded for years back home.
Other restrictions apply under Amsterdam's drug laws, such as the fact that it is not allowed to sell alcohol and cannabis
products on the same premises. Since 2008 the introduction of the tobacco ban has made it illegal to smoke this dangerous
substance in anyone's workplace. Pure cannabis joints may still be smoked as normal, as may bongs, pipes and joints made
with the special 'herbal smoking mixtures' provided by some coffeeshops. Many coffeeshops also have a sealed 'smoking area'
in order to allow customers to smoke joints containing tobacco. Note: Tobacco is a stronger physically addictive drug that is the main focus
of the recent political coffeeshop bans.
No coffeeshops will permit the use of hard drugs and you will find yourself ejected quite quickly, if you try to test this.
One of the major events for coffeeshops in Amsterdam is the High Times Cannabis Cup, which takes place towards the end
of November, during the week of Thanksgiving. This major smoking event usually leads to coffeeshop crawls and cannabis
clouds throughout the city.
The map is big (1039 x 1139 pixels) so, unless viewing at very
high resolution, please use the scroll bars to see the hidden parts.
Alternatively click around here (to select this
frame) and then you can use the keyboard to move.
Printing the map: If you have access to a colour printer you can make a
paper copy of this map. This page is, however, too big for ordinary printers.
A special version is available with the map squashed to fit a printed
page. Don't worry that it looks distorted and messy on screen - it's set up
to work well on a typical ink jet printer using A4 size paper with the default
margins in Internet Explorer. I've also tested it with Netscape but not American
paper sizes. If it doesn't fit, try reducing the margins a bit (usually Page
Setup under the File menu).
Click on the link below to load the special page in a new window.
If your browser supports Javascript 1.2, a print dialog will appear automatically.
If not, using the menu in the new window, select print (usually Print
under the File menu or an icon on the toolbar). Make sure you print the
whole page rather than just the image otherwise it will not all fit on the page.
Printing the map: If you have access to a colour printer you can make a
paper copy of this map. This page is, however, too big for ordinary printers.
A special version is available with the map squashed to fit a printed
page. Don't worry that it looks distorted and messy on screen - it's set up
to work well on a typical ink jet printer using A4 size paper with the default
margins in Internet Explorer. I've also tested it with Netscape but not American
paper sizes. If it doesn't fit, try reducing the margins a bit (usually Page
Setup under the File menu). 
