NCJ Number
161020
Journal
Contemporary Drug Problems Volume: 22 Issue: 3 Dated: (Fall 1995) Pages: 513-546
Date Published
1995
Length
34 pages
Annotation
Field research conducted in Amsterdam, Netherlands during 1991-92 revealed the individual and collective activities of a small household community of marijuana cultivators and suppliers of marijuana to coffee shops; they associated with one another in a communal household that called itself the Mouse Cafe.
Abstract
Located in a large, abandoned four-story building, the Mouse conducts business in food and beverage sales. However, information about its location and activities is restricted to those who have been invited either directly or indirectly. Four men and five women in their 20's and 30's share the seven separate living areas around the common area. The men make most of their income from their illegal activities that support the coffee shop marijuana business. The Mouse is a marijuana cultivation distribution and site. Deep in the building is a hidden, two-room sinsemilla growing complex. The residents and their cultivation efforts contribute to the supply of at least nine Amsterdam coffee shops; they are ambitious and effective entrepreneurs. The men are members of a countercultural community in Amsterdam who are tightly bound by shared norms governing behavior in and responses to a number of sets of situations and circumstances. All the residents appear to have a spiritualistic orientation governing their activities. A legalization policy in the Netherlands would leave little or no room for enterprises such as those at The Mouse Cafe. Notes and 21 references