Coffeeshops ignore smoking ban

[Caduceus Mercurius]

TILBURG - The thirteen coffeeshops of the Dutch town Tilburg have unanimously ignored the smoking ban for the hotel, restaurant & cafetaria industry, that went into effect this Tuesday.

In each coffeeshop there is a letter waiting for the officials with an explanation for the joint protest.

Freek Hoeksema, who owns two shops of The Grass Company in Tilburg, told us: "Smoking is a fundamental part of our business and our source of income. So we do not cooperate with this ban."

So far the authorities have not undertaken any action against the coffeeshops.


Tilburgse coffeeshops negeren rookverbod
TILBURG - De dertien coffeeshops in Tilburg hebben unaniem besloten zich niks aan te trekken van het rookverbod in de horeca dat dinsdag is ingegaan. ANP

Bij elk van de coffeeshops ligt een brief klaar voor controleurs van de Voedsel en Waren Autoriteit (VWA) met uitleg over de gezamenlijke actie.

Bedrijfsleider Freek Hoeksema, eigenaar van twee filialen van de The Grass Company in Tilburg heeft dat dinsdag laten weten. "Roken is een fundamenteel onderdeel van onze bedrijfsvoering en onze bron van inkomsten. We werken daarom niet mee aan het verbod", aldus Hoeksema.

Voor zover bekend heeft de VWA in Tilburg nog niet opgetreden tegen coffeeshophouders.

 

[BrainEater]

banning is seldomly the solution.

it's an easier way to "solve" the problem though.

but then.... what is the problem???

does the government really care about the thousands of people that die every year because of smoking, or do they simply want to get a better image in the population for reacting on the statistics of dead people and therefore enhancing "public safety"???

i don't know....

i'd like it better though if people had the choice to decide for themselves what is good for them and what not and in what quantities...

i'm afraid many people are too stupid for that... but it's not their fault (who's is it??) ...and strangely that's why the government is right in their acts of prohibitions in a way....

if i were a coffee-shop-owner i would also take the same position.

i feel so much hatred against people who want to ban nature. alright they do it to stop people killing themselves, but still....

peace

 

[Psychoid]

i'm afraid many people are too stupid for that... but it's not their fault (who's is it??)

Who's is it? do you really not know? It's the fucking prohibitionnists' fault if people are "too stupid" (I'd rather say they were educated badly) for that. They are the ones that do all they can to keep people in ignorance so if they decide to try anyway they do it wrong and end up doing dangerous things and that feeds their propaganda...

A GUY JUMPS OFF A WINDOW FROM THE 48th FLOOR WHILE HE WAS ON LSD!!!! because he had no idea what it was like and was in a horrible set&setting and panicked

banning is seldomly the solution.

it's an easier way to "solve" the problem though.

You got it!!!! It's so much easier, faster and cheaper to ban a substance than to spend millions of dollars to educate people and do everything so its use is the safest possible.


P.S.: Sorry for going kinda off-topic

 

[mysticwarrior]

It would be cool, if all the coffeeshops in Holland participated in this action.

 

[Guest]

....cials with an explanation for the joint protest.

:weedman:

 

[st.bot.32]

The same thing happened in Hawaii last year, places just ignored the ban. Of course you can imagine in Hawaii the number of smoking patrons must be very high.

In NYC where smoking bans were implemented earlier than most other places they now have what is called the smokeasy, of which there are apparently hundreds, going by the fines they've been giving out. Smokeasy-a play on the word speakeasy, where alcohol was served during the alcohol prohibition. Even in my city there are smokeasies popping up. Strange, a smokeasy doesn't affect nonsmokers, but people with a bee in their bonnet would still be happy to bust into those places with cops and hand out fines.

I'm glad there are lots of nonsmoking venues to go to, but it is sad that there is no longer even a choice for smoking staff and patrons to legally have a venue to themselves. So the smokers end up on the sidewalks, where the anti-smoking lobbyists freak out if a breeze happens to blow a few stray particles of nicotine towards them, meanwhile big busses and trucks are going by blowing off far more carcinogens..