Coffee shop entrepreneur Nol van Schaik's view on Checkpoint coffee shops recent court case

Nol van Schaik the man behind Willie wortels coffeeshop in Haarlem was recently asked by a member of the Channel Forums  ''What are your personal views on this decision and the likely short term effects on the industry if any?'' 

The question refers to the the court case of Checkpoint Coffee Shop in which the owner was fined ten million Euros.

Nol a man whos never been behind the door about his views on cannabis had this to say -

First of all, since last Thursday I am a leader of a criminal organization, and if the Checkpoint crew does not appeal to a higher Court, I will probably stay one forever.
That has a lot of implications.

I am worried, with and about my staff, because one day the hammer may fall for them, to brand them members of Nol Capone’s criminal organization. The solution for this problem would be to send our staff to an employment agency (uitzendbureau) and then hire them back from the agency, that would keep them in the clear. If I really have to do this, the Dutch Tolerance Policy will be as useless and dead as Harry Anslinger.

Maddy always paid his taxes, millions per year, and the Tax people never reported his high sales to the authorities, they just collected and collected…
The fine consists of the money he made on sales to foreigners, after taxes, they could not take his profits over the sales of cannabis to Dutch nationals, after taxes. He has been robbed of his money, with the excuse of sales to Belgians mainly.

The Belgian government allows possession of up to 3 grams of cannabis in their country, but they do not allow the sales of cannabis in their country.
Because of this Belgian cannabis policy and the desire of many Belgians to smoke cannabis, the Belgian government actually forces its citizens to go to Dutch coffeeshops to score weed and hash.

So, the Belgian government is guilty of provoking all these border area problems, not the coffeeshops which happen to be located near Belgium. They should be taken to court too, European Court, in their own Brussels.

I can only hope the Checkpoint crew appeals against this decision, and their Lawyer should charge the Dutch Tax Office for fencing, they have accepted criminal money for years, millions per year, without reporting the huge sales of Checkpoint to the proper authorities.

They collected a bundle, and now they took more from Maddy, because it is Belgian money.

The Terneuzen city councilors that have served during the years Checkpoint was in business, should also be taken to court, they made Maddy’s mega coffeeshops a tourist destination, by putting up traffic signs leading to the biggest cannabis coffeeshop in the Universe, to direct the Belgian smokers there.

I will go on the way I planned, I am long preparing a mayor court case against the Dutch Ministry of Justice, one against the Dutch Ministry of Economics will follow on that. Our Lawyer, Mr. Maurice Veldman, a coffeeshop defense specialist, representing most Amsterdam en Haarlem coffeeshops, will launch the attack with me.

This needs to be done before the 9 June elections, so the new people in charge know what they are up to. Wish me luck, I will need some.

Oh, and I am pretty pissed off, I consider Maddy as the great guy he is, a hippie with a great business plan, and I feel personally offended by pronouncing him, our colleagues and myself gang bosses.

I hope some colleagues are ready to share the Lawyer bill, for a change, I usually pick up the tabs alone, but this one will cost me a lot of cash, or my future as a coffeeshop entrepreneur, a profession I am very proud off.

Nol van Schaik.

Nol's Blog

Nol has called on all cannabis coffeeshops in the Netherlands to strike on the Dutch National election day - Read More about the strikes