Cannabis Liberation Day 2015

Cannabis Liberation Day 2015

Cannabis Liberation Day 2015 went ahead on Sunday June 14th in Amsterdams Flevo Park, it remains Hollands biggest free-admission cannabis festival and Dutch Passion are proud to remain the chief sponsor.  This years event was the biggest and best so far, as well as increased numbers of European visitors there were plenty from North & South America, Russia and Asia.  

 

This years live music came from Natty (UK), Einstein Barbie (Holland), De Rupelsoldaten (Belgium) along with DJ Skunkstar (Austria) and DJ Dr Tompson (UK).  The organisers continue to attract some great live music, especially now that the Cannabis Liberation Day is so well established, and this brings in extra visitors.  Its a winning formula, a fun and free day out for cannabis lovers with lots to do and even more to smoke.  It was a mixture of cannabis lovers, festival fans, families, old and young people.  This year lots of visitors stayed at the nearby Zeeburg camp site which offers a safe/secure and low cost way for people to camp in Amsterdam.

 

 

As well as the music there was the largest Hemp market seen so far at a Cannabis Liberation Day, with stalls selling all types of arts and crafts.  Dutch Passion had their own herbal chill-out zone, and the speakers included the celebrated Dutch Cannabis Campaigner Doede De Jong.  

 

 

Cannabis Liberation Day passed without any trouble or incidents.  In general no alcohol = no trouble at these festivals.  The First-Aid team told us that the only concern they had was with one person that had drunk too much wine.  The Medical Cannabis Bike Tour raised a record €120,000 this year by cycling 420 km in 3 days and got plenty of support and applause when they finished their tour at Cannabis Liberation Day.  The €120,000 will be given to a medical research project in Spain which is investigating the effect of THC and CBD on brain tumours.  More info about this remarkable project can be found here in English and here in Spanish.  Anyone wanting to get involved with future Bike Tours should check out their website , the tour is professionally organised with accommodation/luggage transfers and attracts dozens of riders from a range of cycling abilities.  In 2016 there will probably be over 100 riders.  

 

 

 

Cannabis Liberation Day had a mixed audience, which shows just how widely cannabis has been accepted as a safer and more natural alternative to alcohol in our society.  The local Amsterdam newspaper Parool made the following observation about Cannabis Liberation Day:   "if there would be a diversity award for festivals it would have been granted to Cannabis Liberation Day. There are parents with children, teens with their skate boards, rasta guys who are drawing while seated on the grass, elderly people with indian outfits. Dudes with dreadlocks, and girls with a bun in their hair, and of course a lot of people with Bob Marley on their shirts or pants.”.  As recent public polls have clearly shown, there is a clear appetite for reform  of cannabis laws and complete legalisation along the lines of the USA model.  The Dutch public opinion poll showed a staggering 70% of people are now firmly in favour of a complete overhaul of Dutch cannabis laws and want to see a regulated system for the supply of cannabis.  Currently possession of small amounts of cannabis are tolerated, and the famous Dutch Coffee shops allow people to buy small amounts of cannabis for personal medical or recreational use.  But the supply of cannabis to coffee shops remains completely illegal.  The survey by Motivaction also showed that 61% want to see a system of permits introduced for controlled production of cannabis.

The survey shows that the Dutch politicians remain significantly behind Dutch public opinion, most people believe that Police time, money and resources are simply wasted on cannabis ‘crimes’.

The Highlife Cup winners were announced at Cannabis Liberation Day, Dutch Passion took 3rd Prize in the Bio Cup with Orange Hill Special   Its great to see Hollands biggest free Cannabis festival become increasingly popular and well organised, its also encouraging to see other aspects of the day such as the Bike Tour and Hemp market also growing so well.  Everyone expects future Cannabis Liberation Days to increase in popularity, the next one will be in June 2016, it will be even bigger and better than this years event.  We hope you can join us there.

Cannabis Liberation Day 2015
June 19th 2015