Cannabis Cup Raided By Police

[Boner]

It's 50% tax.

[Kingdoc]

Even 50% is still high.

[doobydave]

I'm pretty sure it is a 20% tax. I recall hearing they made 400m Euros from 2bn Euros sales - can't remember which year these figures were though.

I'm not sure if the shops have to pay any annual license fee or other hidden charges.

If the government are going to be dicks about this, then I'm sure the shops could collectively divert/withhold a large proportion of this money, to hit the government where it hurts. I must say if I knew a %age of my dope money were going towards activities such as this, I would be more likely to source my weed elsewhere.

[weedhog]

Boner is correct it is 50%, It was posted by Nol from the Willy Wortel coffeshops in Haarlem, also as I was looking into buying a shop I got all the details.

[east_island]

Well, one thing is for sure, there's alot of secrecy surrounding the tax rate which CS's pay on ganja/hash sales. You can search anywhere on the net and just nothing 'official'. There are a few articles but NONE mention a definite tax rate. My guess is that it sits between 15% and 20%..not more than that. I suspect that CS ganja tax rates have probably never been modified for a long time.

I was pretty ripped last night and started to process some numbers in my hazed brain based on the articles I found and then woke up this afternoon with paper and pen still in hand..LOL:

"Reporter estimated total sales at the coffee shops at 265,000 kilos of hashish and marijuana annually, with an annual gross revenue of about (USD) $3.2 billion".
USD 3.2 Billion / 265,000 Kg = USD 12,075 per Kg (or USD12.00 per gram)

Seeing this article was written in 2008 lets just apply an average exchange rate USD/EURO of 0.74 (between 2005 & 2008)...

USD 12.00 per gram x 0.74 = Euro 8.88 per gram (Average Sales Price of Ganja/Hash).

According to the news program, the Dutch government is raking in 400 million euros (a little more than $600 million) a year in taxes from the country's 730 marijuana-selling coffee shops.

Euro 400 Million / 265,000 Kg = Euro 1'500 per Kg (or Euro 1.50 per gram in Dutch state tax revenues on Ganja sales).

If you put the two together:

Euro 1.50 per gram tax revenues / Euro 8.88 per gram average sales price = 16.9% (17% Tax Rate).

My conclusion: The Dutch state isn't making shite when you think how much money is going around in CS business. The CS's on the otherhand are raking in heap loads of cash..and much more. I dunno, could be alot of wrong figures going around and given all the secrecy we'll probably not even know the exact figure.

Sorry guys if I rambled on this post..didn't mean to try to be a smart-ass or something..just pretty funny that I ended-up trying to work this out when I was ripped and waking-up the following day and not remembering a thing..except the paper and pen in hand.

article: http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/200 ... _tax_reven

[weedhog]

its 50%.

[ganjoa]

I was at the Borchland Expo when the raid occurred. My first hand account:

Police came up the center aisle in two columns, split and went down the side aisles two per booth until all booths had two police (at least). Supervisors had maps of the hall and certain booths marked with red circles, probably from earlier undercover work. The watchword for the day was "Pineapple" which had been heard just moments prior to entry by the police contingent. Initially there were no announcements, for the first 10 minutes everybody wondered what was going on. All commercial activity ceased and there were no more food or refreshments available, much less anything from the expo vendors. The bathrooms were closed. After announcements were made, attendees were moved out of the exhibition area and a number of super-sized joint rolling parties ensued under the watchful eyes of the Dutch police. When the second announcement was made, people were being allowed to leave and were searched upon exiting. Only the folks in the exhibition hall were detained - if you were outside smoking tobacco there was no problem. At one point, one of the HighTimes staffers showed up at the back door and the folks in the booth signaled him not to come in AND to hide his staff badge - some of the HT video was shot from that vantage point just outside the hall through the food service area.

Dutch police were generally friendly and polite as well as willing to have frank discussions with the detainees. All the weed was confiscated, not even the Dutch were allowed to keep 5g. stash - with the exception of Soma whose medical card protected 60+g. stash from confiscation. I heard a few stories of some local folks getting out with some stash - also that seeds weren't being confiscated nor edibles. Everybody got out with their papers, lighters, tips, grinders and other convention trinkets just not any weed.

Evidently some exhibitors had warning of the raid because they were giving away their samples - including the buds under the microscope in some circumstances. I received one such gift about a half hour before the raid and gave it to a guy who had just landed and hadn't even hit a coffeeshop or gotten high yet - he did well with the Tahoe OG Kush. In the end there were ounces (if not pounds) of primo weed and hash scattered about the place - a group of about 60 were madly rolling and trying to smoke it all up but you couldn't give your weed away - there simply were no takers. I walked out behind one of the HT big shots who took out about a half ounce of AK47 and just dropped it on the floor. I guess the police cleaned the place up otherwise some Dutch janitor is living like the King of Cannabis!

Mila was the exhibitor arrested for 700 grams of trash cuttings for hash making demonstrations. She ended up making it to the Milkweg by 22:00 after being released by the police. Dutch TV news interviewed her the next morning at the Borchland. She said that the Dutch TV had invited her to broadcast hash making demonstrations a few weeks earlier involving similar quantities of trash clippings.

Upon entering the search area, everyone was being asked if they had any drugs on them, to which I replied yes! I was asked to remove them from my bag so I retrieved my prescription bottle with 4 kinds of opiates in it and they just incredulously looked at the bottle and said "Don't you have any weed?". "No, it's back there on the floor with everyone else's" was my reply. My person and bag were searched and nothing was disturbed or confiscated. I was NOT at any time asked for id which was a good thing because I only had 3 credit cards on me and no passport. It was a good time to put my judges badge safely in my bag as well. I was going to be late to meet the wife.

After being dropped by bus at Amstel Station instead of the Victoria Hotel, it required about an hour on trams and on foot to get back to the Red Light District and the Cannabis College to meet my spouse for a 6pm lecture. When I arrived at 7pm it had not started because their medical MJ patient who was participating in the lecture got caught out at the Borchland expo and hadn't made it back. After Alan Dronkers finished his piece on medical MJ, I was asked to speak to the group about the circumstances of the expo.

During the journey from Amstel Station, I noticed a heightened police presence throughout the central city in all the major entertainment districts. I was glad I had made the decision to stash my Judges Badge on the trip through town. I didn't notice any coffeeshop closures, but I had little interest in hitting any of the big shops participating in the cup. The other shops in the Red Light district and the local shops seemed to have not been affected by the event.

I chose not to leave Amsterdam on Thursday to return to the expo and did not notice any continued police scrutiny nor any coffeeshop closures. We attended the closing party at the Milkweg to be greeted by a big sign that said no tobacco or marijuana smoking allowed inside. The High Times Cannabis Cup Closing Party and no weed allowed to be smoked inside the building. Many people stayed for the awards and then left quite early for more smoker friendly destinations other than the Milkweg. Outside the Milkweg there were a few police we had seen earlier on Wednesday at the Borchland... just watching....
--end--
I have some video but haven't downloaded it yet.....

[Jimmy]

Nice text ganjoa =)! Thanks for sharing!

Peace
Jimmy

[ftcarer]

I'm sure HB told me CS tax was around the 34% mark

re the raids , saw the police leaving Rokerij III on the 23/11, looking pretty pissed off, roughly 5 mins before everyone turned up for Bong/Luvticks T&T , the manager/owner was straight out on the phone behind them , but was all smiles & business just carries on
I was part of the group in Paradox when it was raided , police were polite , but did make sure no-one could get to the counter or out from behind it , the policeman in charge explained to an old couple that they would have to leave & they let the owner/manager tell us " sorry , you all have to leave , it's a raid " , they had 1 guy at the door who checked our passports & Gapies, indentity card ?
& off we went , buzz well & truly fucked with I do think Strawberry Soul was lucky to have left for food with Badbone & Kongo just before as she only had her driving license on her

[2rollingstoned]

Ok I want to understand before I return again early next year.... Are you only allowed 5 gram total to be on your person at any given time? I thought it was just the 5 gram limit they could sell you at a coffee shop and I was strolling all over amsterdam with a tin can with lets just say more than 5 grams! So if I was walking down the street and they searched me they would take my weed if I have more than 5 grams on me? Just trying to be straight on the rules before I go again!

Edit:
Want to make it clear nobody sold me more than 5g at a time its just I went to alot of shops and picked up a gram here and there and everywhere til I had quite a tin can full lol.. whoops!

[east_island]

Many thanks Ganjoa! Really descriptive!

...and 2rollingstoned..you're not the only one..I only understood that 5gm law after many visits! At the end of the first day of one time I visited (dunno which one) I had about 35g's on me...kinda over did it.

[Wellgo]

I was at the expo when it got raided CRAZY SHIT.we got asked to leave so we got in the queue. i shoved me green down me pants . i got padded down the bitch copper said to me any weed i said no she opened my bag and said wots this.SHIT i forgot about the half g terminator i had. i said hash and the bitch took it of me.oh well still had me green

[ed the head]

i shoved me green down me pants

Nice move!

[Wellgo]

I would of been really pissed off if she took the green

[xxxcronicxxx]

I was at the expo when it got raided CRAZY SHIT.we got asked to leave so we got in the queue. i shoved me green down me pants . i got padded down the bitch copper said to me any weed i said no she opened my bag and said wots this.SHIT i forgot about the half g terminator i had. i said hash and the bitch took it of me.oh well still had me green

Good on yer.

What a bitch, there's a limit of 5 grams and they still taking under 5 grams of people in a country that sell's weed and host's the Cannabis cup.
These devil soldiers are taking people for fools, you can buy your weed they tax it and then tell you that you can't have it / smoke it.