Amsterdam 'No cannabis' signs big hit in US

[Kellanved]

AMSTERDAM — The 'no cannabis' signs produced for a new crackdown on people smoking drugs in public in the Baarsjes district of Amsterdam are selling like hot cakes.

A spokesperson for the local authority said 333 requests to buy one of the signs had been received since the council announced the sale last week. About half of the requests come from the US. There have also been offers from Germany, Australia, Singapore and Scandinavia.

The Baarsjes is the first district in Amsterdam to introduce a new bye-law to prevent groups of young people hanging around in public areas to smoke cannabis. The sign alerting the public to the cannabis-free zone features a hand holding a joint which is emitting puffs of smoke shaped like cannabis leaves.

The signs started to go missing as soon as the campaign was launched last week. Three have so far been taken by souvenir hunters. All attempts to thwart the thefts have failed.
...
http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=1&story_id=27401&name=%27No+cannabis%27+signs+big+hit+in+US


http://www.spiegel.de/img/0,1020,576636,00.jpg

[fishnfla]

1. Judging by how dry it is down here

(* ahem* so I am told) Dealers are snapping them up and hanging them on their front doors:smoke: :smoke:

[HughBeaumont]

2. Funny, that looks like a PRO cannabis sign to me.

Maybe there's a difference in symbolic interpretation here, but wouldn't a "no cannabis" sign have a "\" through it?

[Kellanved]

3. the red circle around it means "no"

The slash across is optional.

[HughBeaumont]

4. Must be a European thing,

. . . because that's not how it is on this side of the lake. At least not in any city I've ever been in.

[Kellanved]

5. yup, I noticed

It isn't exactly consistent in Europe either; red circle always means "forbidden", but it can mean "up to and including is allowed, everything else is forbidden" or "things shown are completely forbidden". It can also be empty, which means "everthing is forbidden".

[HughBeaumont]

7. And because of the different interpretation over here . . .

it's probably why half the requests are from the US. :)

[CrownPrinceBandar]

6. So is this the Dutch equivalent.........

of public alcohol consumption laws here in the US? Or are they trying to prohibit wacky tobaccky altogether? I have heard rumblings of the latter in recent days.