Wernard Bruining: Marijuana Revolutionary

In 1972 a young Dutch hippie named Wernard Bruining and his friends opened a coffee shop in Amsterdam called "Mellow Yellow." He is also the founder of Amsterdam'sfirst "grow shop," called Positronics. This style of shop supplies marijuana growers with many materials they need such as lights, thermostat equipment, and nutrient products. With others, he has revolutionized cannabis growth by way of sinsemilla (the process of seedless farming) and has spearheaded the coffee shop movement in The Netherlands. He is also an avid table football player.

The coffee shops of the 1970s were not the same as the stoner havens of today, where college-aged students go to get fucked up in a jello-like haze of introverted lethargy. Bruining and others described the shops as conceived as a more intimate environment where people would sit around and discuss politics, war, and life. Over thirty years, Bruining has revolutionized marijuana culture and growing in The Netherlands and has become something of a local and international legend. He has published a number of articles and books related to decriminalizing marijuana as well as guides containing growth tips. It is clear that the 800+ marijuana coffee shops in Amsterdam owe their livelihood to the ingenuity and vision of this Dutch-born family man.

Bruining is also an activist and a firm believer in decriminalization of marijuana in Europe and the United States. Much of his reasoning stems from his belief that the war on cannabis is already lost, and that in the seventy years of its prohibition, the trend has been toward more users instead of less. He reasons that prohibition of a certain commodity only ENCOURAGES citizens to break the law instead of abide by it. However, he is not a proponent of irresponsible policy or unbridled cultivation. He believes that steps should be taken to allow for a gradual influx of cannabis into economies by decriminalizing the possession of a specific number of plants per person. This he believes, will help to lower the overall THC content of marijuana plants by allowing them to be grown outdoors instead of under closely-monitored temperature, lighting, and nutrient conditions indoors. More plants grown that are unhindered by criminal penalties will allow the price of marijuana to go down, thus removing the issues of street pricing, middlemen, and competitive violence in illicit drug trafficking. With low-priced cannabis available, he reasons that there would be less of a market for extremely potent varieties.

Bruining probably best sums up his position with "In Holland, we believe that you can do what you want as long as you don't bother anyone else." Is that such a difficult creed for other nations to follow?