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Interview
The Dutchman Nol Van Schaik plays a big role in the legalization of cannabis in
Great Britain
By Paul Scherder
Since 'the Dutch Experience', the first coffee shop in Great Britain opened
September 15 last year in Stockport (near Manchester), Nol Van Schaik got
continuous attention in the foreign media. Who knows the Dutch 'CanabiNol', is
aware of the fact that he is the initiator of many different activities and is
also the owner of the Global Hemp Museum and three coffee shops in Haarlem
(Holland), like the famous Willie Wortel Workshop (Gyro Gearloose Workshop) that
was started ten years ago, last year. Van Schaik, who once started to try doing
business in Belgium and also has a single about cannabis on his name, is always
busy trying to soften the policy on cannabis. So we had lots of reason to visit
him.
Colin Davies and Nol van Schaik
At first Nol didn't like to talk
to us. 'I'm busy for years and you hardly wrote about me. And when you did, most
of it wasn't true; once I read I was wanted in Germany (!)'. Nol didn't like
that. Once he escaped spectacularly and not without risks at the Spanish-French
border after they found a huge amount of hashish in a car. He likes to tell the
truth.
Can you tell us how things are in Stockport?
That you can read at www.williewortel.org
or www.dutchexperience.org . I've
got a lot of clippings from recent foreign press. And that is only a selection
of the most relevant things. Lot's of countries are very interested on what is
happening with cannabis around the world. The BBC followed me for weeks and
filmed almost everything what happened in Stockport. We're open almost six
months and daily people visit and smoke in The Dutch Experience. There are
enough growers in the UK to buy our weed.
Nol van Schaik inside
'the Dutch Experience'
We've had three raids, but never
been locked up for more then a few hours. Luckily we could open very quickly.
Alas Colin Davis - officially the owner of The Dutch Experience and a real
supporter of the availability of medical weed to patients - is still in a kind
of political hostage. He has to go to court again, but we have good hopes of him
being bailed out. At first, he has never been convicted before and the
possession of cannabis is a 'non-violent offence'. And I can guarantee you that,
although he is in jail, he is getting his medicine (cannabis). As soon as Colin
gets out of jail, we will again open the shop officially and with all kinds of
festivities.
The situation is quite hypocritical on the moment. While in the area of Lambeth
(London) the possession of cannabis is not prosecuted any more, the police in
Stockport will still put you in jail. Together with two members of the European
parliament and other sympathizers we often smoke our joints on the sidewalk in
front of the police station, and hope they'll prosecute us. Thanks to the
attention in the media, I'm so famous myself in the UK, the policemen don't want
to put me in jail any more. So if I smoke an enormous joint, the police just
passes me as if they don't see me at all. But if I pass the joint, that person
is immediately put in jail.
I have to be in court in Manchester, because of the possession and the import of
marihuana. But in the meantime I'm followed for weeks by the makers of 'The
Money Program', the program about economics of the BBC. They want to know
everything that has to do with managing a coffee shop: buying, selling,
managing, costs, whether you pay taxes, etc. They know how interesting this is,
economically, and are very interested in the financial consequences in the UK.
So I'm also busy with Wernard Bruining to make a course 'How to become a coffee
shop owner in the UK?' like the Dutch Experience model. The students have to
come to Holland to go this course for 5 days. They will be thought in knowledge
of the products, bar management, inventory, bookkeeping, social hygiene, social
skills, all facets of managing a coffee shop. They also get a real certificate.
On other places in the UK are also very interesting things are going to happen.
We work together with Kevin Williams (producer of the movie Trainspotting) who
is going to open his first coffee shop in Edinburgh, Scotland. And Wernard
Bruining and me are writing a book about 30 years Mellow Yellow, the first
coffee shop in Holland, and there will be a big party too at the end of this
year.
But, lots of other things are happening. I've been in contact with members of
the Ministry of Health of the State of Israel. They came to buy seed for
scientific research and were very interested in my advice.
You'd say that Lebanon is a lot closer.
That's very true, but politically it's quite a mess now. And the farmers from
Lebanon wouldn't like it to give Israel seed.
It could be a beautiful first step on the road to reconciliation.
'You notice that political opinion and policy in Europe are on a turning point.
I've been asked as a guest speaker on the British Liberal Democratic Party. They
want to promote legalization of cannabis. Their spin-doctors and policy
advisors, they need something to break open the vacuum of power between the
Tories and Labour. And legalization of cannabis is very suitable, because so
many people think that it's important, in all generations and parties. And they
don't want to punish the use of all illegal drugs with jail.
Is Holland already old fashioned in Europe?
'I wouldn't say that, but it seems there is already a turning point in Italy and
Spain. Switzerland is holding back, but I don't think that will last a long
time. Also Chirac in France knows that he has to have something really important
to win the next elections. In the old days, on the highest French political post
was a real hawk that was certain that using cannabis would always lead to using
heroine. Now Chirac is not popular any more, he wants to legalize cannabis to
keep his power. So the adherent of the stepping stone theory had to leave and
now a professor of the Paris Sorbonne has this job.
Nol van Schaik demostrating for Colin Davies
I heard him on the German TV
saying that legalization is the best option. So they had to go along with it.
Indeed. Or something like that. I've been also invited on the congress of the
European Radical Parties, which is in Geneva soon.
What about the plans of the Dutch Minister of Health to provide weed via the
pharmacy?
'I did volunteer as a grower, but I put myself off the list as soon as I knew
what way it would be like. There is no scientific research done by the Ministry.
It looks like they've only looked at the economical part. Assume that a patient
of MS smokes 3 grams a day. That costs 30 Euro a week. So it would be 10,000
Euro a year. Until now the insurance companies want to give 900 or sometimes
1200 Euro a year. That is gone in a month. And the weed is sterilized with gamma
radiation, and that's not good for the smell, taste and amount of THC. If you
ask me, they don't take the patients seriously. There will be made agreements
about the prices, because they know that a lot of other medicine, like morphine
and prednison and others will not be sold as much as it did before. That's going
to cost the pharmaceutics containers full of money. No, those patients better
visit me, then they pay only one third of the price and the quality is a lot
better. All coffee shop keepers in Holland should do that.
Cheap biological weed for patients and collectively give the receipts to the
health insurance companies to force them to an adequate compensation.
Just before this magazine went to the printer, I contacted Nol. 'How did he
do on the Liberal Democratic Party convention?'.
'The news of the plans to legalize was really surprising'. All political parties
agree. The committee (that has to advise the Government) recommended a change of
law to legalize cannabis. All lawsuits are postponed. Only Colin chose to force
a judgement (discharge) and he's still in jail. He will be in court on June 24.
The prosecutor has a lot of work to do, because Colin called 200 witnesses
(besides patients, also doctors from England and Holland) to testify for the
validity of cannabis as a medicine. (Colin wore a T-shirt in court, on which was
printed 'I'M ALREADY A PRISONAR OF A BODY THAT DOES NOT WORK')
The British students already had their course, followed by an English film crew.
The students will open coffee shops in Rhyl (Wales), Bournemouth and Milton
Keynes. The papers are also aware of the fact that the coffee shops are going to
open. Today a big article was placed in The Observer, which was also telling
about the Brixton-experiment (in the area of Lambeth, London). But over there is
one big chaos. Now you see how you really can mess up combining a repressive
policy with too much hard drugs.
All lawsuits are postponed until the day the law will be changed. The British
Government is afraid for the claims for damage. And we will open the second
branch store of The Dutch Experience in Bornemouth. We truly belief that the
legalization in England will be soon.
So, that was a very enthusiastic Nol van Schaik. We congratulate Colin, all
other patients and all smokers in the UK with the forthcoming victory. And we
want to say to the British people: Cannabis is great if you suffer from 'stiff
upper lip'. Just try it!
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