Amsterdam’s Coffeeshops, which are local legal dispensaries for marijuana, are often given  as examples of Dutch tolerance. In fact, these dispensaries are highly regulated. On the premises, there cannot be minors, hard drugs, or more than 500 grams of marijuana. A coffeeshop cannot advertise, cause a nuisance, or sell more than 5 grams to a person in a day. These rules are enforced by surprise police checks, with violations punishable by closure.

In Grey Area, Scott Jacques examines the policy surrounding coffeeshops with a huge stash of data, which he collected during two years of fieldwork in Amsterdam. How do coffeeshop owners and staff obey the rules? How are the rules broken, and why? The stories and statistics show that order in the midst of smoke is key to Dutch drug policy, vaporizing the idea that prohibition is better than regulation. Grey Area is a timely contribution in light of the recent reforms to cannabis policy worldwide.
 

Scott Jacques is associate professor of criminal justice and criminology in the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University. He is coauthor of Code of the Suburb, published by the University of Chicago Press.

— Kim Møller, Malmö University