The deal with smoking a pipe in what we call a coffeeshop is mysterious. The only explanation I can think of is that is was an arbitrary decision by the manager, or did you have the same experience in other coffeeshops? As for smoking in a public place, we've just had a series of lawsuits following the ban on smoking in all public places. The basic argument for such a ban was protection of employees against second-hand tobacco smoke. Employees, because customers have more of a choice. This ban was challenged by a group of barowners without staff: they stated that they themselves were smokers, all their customers too and since they had no employees, they considered the ban a violation of their rights. They won and since then we're in sort of a limbo. Smoking is officially forbidden in public places that employ staff, but permitted in bars run by their owners alone. A very good example of Dutch half-heartedness, just like the weed situation: you're allowed to carry three grams for personal use and grow up to five plants. Places that sell marihuana are allowed to buy and keep a stock, but the growers they buy from will be prosecuted if caught. To add to the confusion, there's a group of mayors from border towns that, in an attempt to stop 'drug tourism', are pleading for something called a weedpass. Available only to Dutch citizens and no pass, no weed. This too has caused some protests so we've managed to find yet another compromise: in border counties you can only buy weed if you hold a Dutch passport. Of course, this will be a failure in the sense that it will not stop the French, German and Belgian potheads from getting their stuff. Oh, and by the way: not everyone here smokes pot. What's more: I remember reading that, when compared to Dutch statistics, there's a larger percentage of U.S. citizens who are regular users.
