Soft drug laws and Dr Doob

Ok, I'll call myself Doctor Dube again, I'm not a doctor and my real name is not Dube but I have a little story for all pricked up ears. (Jethro Tull) It goes as follows;

This weekend, the weekend of the One Love festival, I was once again out of my favorite pastime, Hashish. (not Hatchoom ) Aware that I like to have a choice of products and qualities and not a person of many contacts, I decided to make my way to Holland, to visit a coffee shop and taking advantage of a weekend return with the SNCB. (the Belgium railway system)

Upon my arrival in the Netherlands (one of the few countries on this earth where it is possible to buy, for personall consumption and persecution free, the soft drugs, hashish and marajuana) I sauntered over to a coffeshop and bought and smoked some nice Morrocan poln-like hashish.

As the quality was still floating in my head and owner of a few grams of "stuff" I boarded the international train from Amsterdam to Brussels.
Armed with my knowledge that it is now permitted to possess soft drugs for personal use, I relaxed into my chair, anxious to get back to the confines of my own home, Brussels.

Relaxing to my head phones, "not causing no fuss" (L.K.J.) I suddenly had a big German Sheppard sniffing me all over and ended up, handcuffed in the Antwerp police station for the offence of IMPORTING SOFTDRUGS. (for personal consumption)

What I remember from this experience (Jimi Hendrix) goes as follows;
I remember passing a group of 10 - 20 elders (smug and apparently waiting for a train) and hearing one of them say in Flemish "you have been bad little boys" called out to my group of suspected drug importers, I remember waiting, I remember being naked in front of Antwerp police men while they searched through all my personall affairs, including all my private telephone numbers, I remember being asked about some of these telephone numbers as to whom they belonged and not answering, I remember my plastic handcuffs being tightened when I asked them to be loosened, I remember asking for the possibility of a phone call or some form of legal assistance and being told that this was not…. America or T.V., I remember my first arrest taking approximatly 2 hours, and I remember just missing the train back to Brussels by a few minutes after my arrest, I remeber wondering what I was going to do to fill that time and I remember going BACK to Holland to smoke a few last joints ( I don't have any contacts/ adresses in Brussels where I can consciously buy softdrugs), I remember buying 1 more gram of hash and leaving what I wasn't able to smoke behind in the Netherlands, fearing detention for the second time that day by an "international police force."
I remember embarking on the train for a second time that day in the direction of Belgium, I remember feeling bad for all those soft drug consumers in that train who where carrying, (a few grams of hash or marjuana) because I noticed the same "international police force" bording the train with the same German Sheppard, I remember remembering a kind detective who took my deposition the first time round saying that it was legal to smoke in the Netherlands.

AND THEN I remember the German sheppard smelling me out again, I remember him not really smelling anything but because his master remembered me from earlier that day I remember quite distinctly him commanding him to smell my breath.

I remember telling them that this time I was not importing,that they where making a big mistake, I remember one of them telling me that it was going to be ok but that I still had to follow and be searched again, I remember raising my voice after having explained to the police that this was the second time today that I was being "stopped"saying something like "this is the second time that this happens to me, look I even have the paper from my first arrest and I don't have anything this time and I was told that it is legal to smoke in the Netherlands, look I even heard your dog master distinctly commanding his dog to smell my breath, I am not going down to the police station because I have already spent enough time there for one day and this time I am not IMPORTING anything, I just went to smoke some joints" , I remember a cursory search in a train compartment that was slowly being filled up by other suspects, I remember them not finding any soft drugs (or any drugs for informations sake) and still handcuffing me, I remember my handcuffs being left looser this time, I remember asking for a second "oppinion" from their "dope dog" having made them party to my observations about the dogmaster's commands, I remember waiting quietly for them to let me go, I remember the train stopping in Antwerp and waiting for all the busted or suspected to empty out of the compartment, I remember adamantly insisting for a second oppinion, after it was clear to me that this was not going to happen AND THEN I remember being carted off individually (sepperate from the rest of the group ) with force and like an assasin, all the way to the police station. (it was like an episode of "Sedies and Bellie")
I remember one of the "detectives" telling the police at the station to search me last, I remember having a very very dry mouth and no water, I remember asking for water, I remember worrying about my sugar level ( I have been diabetic now for 4 years +), I remember going into my banana bag to extract my gluco-meter and being told to put it away even after I had explained my intentions and needs, I remember waiting with my head hung down for another 30 minutes to an hour wondering if I might faint…. I remember only being alowed to check my sugar level when I was finally being fully searched, and I remember being allowed to go to a toilet and realizing that there was no water to flush down my urine (maybe they wanted to test me for hard drugs after the search was revealed to be negative) and I remember being left to go with no formalities except a slip of paper that noted the hour of my arrest.

Well, that's not bad on the memory front for someone who was meant to be high or stoned during all these proceedings would you not say and that's my little story. I just wonder ….what am I, who has been smoking now for 15 years plus, who has crossed the dutch border every time I wanted to indulge in my favorite pastime, sometimes by train, sometimes hitchhiking supposed to do now that I know that this won't be possible anymore? I know that the Belgium law allows majors (18 years and older) to carry and smoke soft drugs, I just don't know how to acquire them…anymore.

arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)