Amsterdam Coffeeshops FAQ - Everything you need to know and more

hello. i want to start off by saying thanking you for this helpful site. now i know you basically answered this question but i still just can’t quite understand this. i am moving to amsterdam next year yet i have never been there before. i will be attending the universiteit van amsterdam and well i want to know a little more information about smoking marijuana on the streets. i won’t be able to walk down the street smoking a little joint? i mean i plan on walking around alot and seeing everything i want to be able to smoke my marijuana cigarette as well as a regular cigarette on the street sides as wel as riding my bike. locals will be offended by my marijuana street smoking cigarette? i just can’t imagine that they would mind. i wanted to know if maybe you can clarify and give me some more examples.. i mean i don’t want to offend the locals. even though i will technically be a local.. hahaha thank you so much. - monica

Monica,

You could smoke a joint while walking down the street, but you’d be pretty much alone in doing so. You might be spoken to by a cop, but you won’t be arrested and your stash wouldn’t be taken either. In the parks it’s a bit more common, but most people just don’t smoke much on the street.

I lived for a while right near the university and there are a couple coffeeshops right in that neighborhood, but I didn’t see many students hanging out in them too often. Most people buy and leave at those non-touristy shops.

You’ll find places better than while walking down the street, and I’m sure you’ll have a great time.

Hello,
first off I would like to say that you have a realy nice set up here…I am a self proclamed pro at the stuff and i still learned a thing or two…My question is that why is it here in North America the average price for 1.5 grams of moderately potent marijuana is only 5 dollers and over their it is so much more? Also do the coffie shops sell in large amounts? Such as maby haffies or ounces or more? And if so could you tell me the average prices of a perchase like that in American dollers?

Jesse,

Thanks for the questions. I’ll probably add some of this to the main FAQ itself soon, but for now here are the answers:

The law in Amsterdam only allows a shop to sell up to 5 grams of cannabis to one person in one day, and these places are really strict about this. 5 grams is about 1/6th of an ounce, and any bulk sales beyond this are forbidden.

You can buy 5 grams at once, but sadly most places will just charge you 5X the one-gram price. Quite a few places have 2 or 2.5 gram bags on their menus, but in almost every case the bulk discount is almost nothing. Like a place will sell a gram of something for €8 and 2 grams for €15, so it’s hardly worth it. So an eighth of an ounce would cost around US$45 and up at today’s terrible exchange rates. Due to lower prices in Amsterdam and a stronger USD, it was only about half that expensive just a few years ago.

Most visitors to Amsterdam are only in town for 2 or 3 days, so most people prefer to buy one gram at a time and try different strains, so this one-gram thing works well for most people.

If you are buying weed for $5 for 1.5 grams in the US I’d like to know where. I’ve heard of roadside Kentucky weed that’s cheap and not strong at all, but never anything worth smoking in that price range. It sounds like you’ve got a good set-up there.

The weed in Amsterdam usually ranges from moderate to insanely strong, with more expensive strains (obviously) going for higher prices.