A local friend of mine told me yesterday of an incident that happened last Wednesday June 11th. My friend is a caucasian American that has been living in Amsterdam for over 12 years. I wanted to pass this tale onto you so you DO NOT carry weed on the Metro (subway). Here is his story:
"On Wednesday, coming home from work I get out of the metro at the Wibautstraat station. The entire platform was filled with cops who made everyone go through one exit where they checked travel passes and fined everyone who was not valid. They had portable pin machines to take your money. When you went through the turnstiles there were more cops with drug dogs who sniffed anyone with drugs, which I had. They took me into a side room in the station, did a strip search, confiscated my knife (small pocket knife that is perfectly legal but not on the Metro) and my weed which was in my small metal box, which was a gift. There was 1 small bud and a small piece of hash; max. weight was 2.5 grams. I was taken outside the station where there was a mobile police station. I was cuffed and charged. They said that I was not allowed to have so much weed. I said that I was allowed to have 5 grams. They said it was more than 5 grams. I said it was not and that I wanted it weighed. They then said that it was illegal to have it in the metro and confiscated it. They said that I would be receiving fines in the mail for both the knife and the marijuana.
I have already been to my lawyer, went yesterday. We are going to see if they actually issue a fine for the weed. If they do then we will challenge it in court if necessary. If not then we are going to file a motion to ask what happened to the confiscated weed and box. In any event, even if they keep the weed, even if they give me a fine, they must return the box. There is nothing illegal about an aluminum box. They gave me my pipe back so they obviously do not care about paraphernalia.
A young black man, 17, refused to be strip searched and got into a wrestling match with one of the cops, grabbed his pepper spray and sprayed him right in the face. He was eating asphalt within seconds.
The total hypocrisy of this incident is that they were confiscating my weed while less that 20 meters away, there were people coming out of the Power coffeeshop, watching all of the ruckus, smoking joints. There were spectators less that 4 meters away from the cops who were also smoking. But because I had weed in my backpack, on my back, in the Metro, it is against the law. Go figure.
When I got home I checked the internet and found that the cops were doing this also at the Bijlmer and NieuwMarkt stations.
There were already complaints from several rights groups that the cops were targeting young black males. I really fit that description. They had white people with knives walk through with no hassle, while black males with nothing on them were searched."
Please ACD people, dont take your herb on the Metro. The police here are becoming more and more like American cops and that IS NOT a good thing. Be safe and have a hempy holiday. One Love.
**Text in () are my comments.**
Weed on public transport
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Twichaldinho
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itsmymagicallife
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- Location: Amsterdam
