Hash Marihuana & Hemp Museum

In 1987, cannabis entrepreneur Ben Dronkers, together with his friend Ed Rosenthal, opened the Cannabis Info Museum. Here, at this location on the edge of Amsterdam’s Red Light District. Ben and Ed wanted to share their passion for the plant, and their personal collection of cannabis artefacts, with the public.

However, the Dutch Minister of Justice believed that the museum was promoting illegal activities. It was closed the day after the official opening, making headlines in national media. But Ben fought the decision, and the museum reopened a day later. Later renamed the Hash Marihuana & Hemp Museum, it has been the heart of the Green Light District ever since.

The museum collection now has more than 9,000 items. Over two million visitors have been here, from all over the world, to learn about the plant. As Ben Dronkers says: “We want to increase the recognition of this exceptional plant by showing visitors its past, present and future.”

Take a virtual tour through the museum (in Dutch).

3. Bulldog

The opening day of coffeeshop The Bulldog on Oudezijds Voorburgwal is written in large letters on the façade: December 17th, 1975. Although the very first coffeeshop (Sarasani) was founded in Utrecht in 1968, the Bulldog (named after owner Henk de Vries’ dog Joris) soon followed. De Vries got a taste for the business after selling cannabis at the three-day Holland Pop Festival in 1970, which was held in a park outside Rotterdam named the Kralingse Bos. He sold 9 kilos that weekend.

At the end of 1975 he took over his father’s shop, a sex shop in the Red Light District. All the toys were taken out, and de Vries transformed the store into a coffeeshop. This ‘living room’ for cannabis enthusiasts has since grown into an international chain.

Listen to Henk de Vries’ story here (in Dutch).

5. Spinhuis

The transformation of raw hemp fibres into basic material for clothing, sails, kites, ropes, and everything that had to be robust and sturdy began at the spinning wheel. This tool was a source of income for some, a punishment for others.

The Spinhuis on Oudezijds Achterburgwal was a penitentiary for women, founded in 1597 in part of a former monastery. ‘This spinning house was founded here to avoid begging, leeching and iniquity for poor girls, maidens and women,’ it said above the entrance gate.

Young ladies who were guilty of fornication in brothels and inns, who had been arrested for drunkenness, or who had committed adultery, were also put to work here, ‘to the great expense of the city, to be disciplined and corrected’. The Spinhuis therefore had unmistakable ambitions! At the time, many kinds of textile products relied on yarn from hemp and wool. This was spun as a form of punishment.

7. Fantasio

Club Fantasio opened here on March 29th, 1968, one day before the Paradiso youth center. Paradiso was established in a church, Fantasio replaced a youth / community centre. From the beginning, both places were associated with the protest and hippie movements. Fantasio organized pop concerts and performances; Pink Floyd performed there.

As a symbol of resistance, the use and small-scale trade of (then mainly) hashish was tolerated by the clubs. Coffeeshops as we know them did not yet exist. It was not until 1976 that Prime Minister Dries van Agt amended the Opium Act, creating safe places where people could buy soft drugs under regulated conditions.

Amsterdam politicians were not enthusiastic. They wanted to limit soft drug use, ‘[…] not only to protect the young people who are already corrupted at this point, but also young people who, out of curiosity, will try experiments tomorrow or the day after tomorrow with regard to the use of “drugs”.

Fantasio and Paradiso were important pioneers: many other youth centers in the Netherlands adopted the same attitude. Joint by joint, the foundations of the Dutch tolerance policy were laid.

9. Lowlands Weed company

Legendary figure Kees Hoekert (1929-2017) laid the foundations of modern Dutch cannabis culture, originally characterized by a tolerant attitude towards Nederwiet (‘Dutch weed’). Hoekert founded the Lowlands Weed Company in 1969 with artist Robert-Jasper Grootveld (1932-2009), known as part of Dutch protest movement the Provo’s for his ‘happenings’ on the Spui.

They grew thousands of hemp plants on the roof of Hoekerts’ houseboat De Witte Raaf (The White Raven). It was located on the Wittenburgergracht, directly opposite a police station! They sold plant cuttings for a guilder (about 50 Eurocents today), striving for the ‘hempification’ of society.

Hoekert received one subpoena after another; he repeatedly saved himself with incisive, humorous reasoning in court. For example, drying the flowers of female cannabis plants (the ‘weed’ sold in coffeeshops) was illegal. Hoekert defended himself: “I have not dried the flowers, they have dried! I threw them in a corner and then the flowers dry on their own.” The judge conceded, and Kees was acquitted again.

Thanks to the activities of pioneers such as Kees Hoekert, the Netherlands grew to be a leading country in the field of international soft drugs policy.

Watch a short film about the Lowlands Weed Company  (in Dutch).

11. Hortus Botanicus

In the 17th century, medicinal herbs were vital to Amsterdam’s health care. Therefore, when the Hortus was founded in 1638, it was logical that medicinal plants made up the core of the plant collection. This was known as the Hortus Medicus. The Hortus today features a unique garden of medicinal plants which were grown there in 1646, created by using their first catalogue.

Although cannabis is not currently grown in the gardens, it has been in the past – as is to be expected from one of the world’s most valuable medicinal plants.

The Hortus Botanicus is one of the world’s oldest botanical gardens. The gate here and the glass cupola inside date back to the early 18th century. They have a vast collection of plants and seeds, gathered from all over the world. This is simultaneously a testament of commitment to science, and a reminder of the Netherlands’ colonial past. Looking at the past of plants is just as important as looking at their future, something which the book Weed of Wonder perfectly illustrates!