Guide to Smoking Pot Around the World

Despite the popularity of weed and hash, most governments in the world have deemed it harmful to the individual and society as a whole.

There are only 11 nations in the world where weed and hash have been decriminalized. A handful of countries impose mandatory prison sentences and other harsh punishments for the possession or sale of any form of weed and hash. Another handful look the other way when dealing with cannabis.

Some places that are easy on weed heads can be broken up by region:
Latin America

In Latin America, cannabis is tolerated and/or decriminalized in most countries, with the exception of Bolivia, Ecuador, Honduras and Guatemala. Marijuana grows well in Central and South America and is a large part of the economy.

Governments tend to have more to worry about than whether someone is smoking a joint. For travelers, this means that smoking in South America is probably okay, but caution should be used.

Only Peru considers cannabis to be a legal drug, provided you are not in possession of another drug. I get the impression that throughout Latin America, the tolerance doesn’t typically extend to tourists, especially if the police can get a bribe out of it, but you should never travel with pot and risk being searched.

I would highly recommend caution throughout Mexico, Panama, Guatemala and even Costa Rica. Although weed is sold to tourists all the time in quantities up to 1/4 pound, those buyers in turn, are often set up for the policia.

In this particular region, weed may be tolerated, decriminalized or even legal up to small amounts (usually about 20 grams), but as always, keep a low profile.

Here’s a quick break down:

* ARGENTINA: Decriminalized for personal use in small amounts and for consumption only in private locations. Public consumption is generally accepted among the young adults and overlooked by police in the suburbs.
* BOLIVIA: Possession illegal. No move to decriminalize.
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* BRAZIL: Possession illegal.
* CHILE: Personal use of marijuana in small quantities on a private place is not against the law. More than one person using it at the same place is considered as a group and thus is considered illegal.
* COLOMBIA: Possession of small quantities of all drugs legal; permitted “personal dose” for marijuana is 20 grams.
* ECUADOR: Possession illegal. No move to decriminalize.
* PARAGUAY: Possession illegal. No move to decriminalize.
* PERU: Possession of up to 8 grams (0.28 oz) of marijuana is legal as long as one isn’t in possession of another drug. However, I’ve read some first hand accounts about the police being fairly strict. Caution is urged.
* URUGUAY: Possession for personal use not penalized; law does not specify quantity for “personal” amount.
* VENEZUELA: Possession of up to 20 grams not punished.
* BELIZE: Illegal, but use by locals is slightly tolerated.
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GUATEMALA: Highly illegal. Possession by Guatemalans in not normally prosecuted for personal use, but tourists are commonly arrested and jailed for several days before being released.
* HONDURAS: Illegal, but use by locals is slightly tolerated.
* PANAMA: Illegal
* COSTA RICA: Illegal, but tolerated. Watch out for being set up.

Europe

Europe is another region where cannabis is generally tolerated, decriminalized or even legal.

We all know about the Netherlands. It is legal to buy and smoke herb in the Netherlands, in amounts up to five grams per person per day. People regularly smoke in public parks and anywhere else they can find a bench and a view.

In the Netherlands, one notices that tourists (especially American tourists) go a little overboard and smoke their way into oblivion. The only caution I would take here is making sure you don’t get duped at the coffee shops or robbed by opportunistic thugs.

* GERMANY and BELGIUM: decriminalized. This means that possessing a small amount is ok, but puffing in public and selling weed is not.
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SPAIN and FRANCE: smoking at home and the possession of a few grams will get you searched and checked out at worst.
* ITALY: possession of more than a gram could result in a search and seizure.
* GREECE: illegal. Really tough on weed.
* DENMARK: illegal. Very uncool towards cannabis ever since authorities bulldozed the Christiana district in Copenhagen.
* YUGOSLAVIA: Ok. Avoid smoking in public (no need to antagonize anyone), but puffing is good to go in private.
* MACEDONIA: decriminalized.
* SERBIA: looks away if it looks at all.
* SLOVENIA: has no police (just kidding, but it is a relaxed place).
* BOSNIA: illegal but tolerated.
* CROATIA: illegal and not tolerated.
* SCANDINVIAN COUNTRIES: laws are quite strict concerning weed and it is not advisable to get caught smoking

North Africa

The other region where weed is ok is North Africa. In Egypt, Tunisia, and Morocco, locals smoke hash, a fine alternative to alcohol and accepted in society. However, this societal norm does not necessarily apply to tourists.

In other words, locals may be puffing, but if the laws still consider what you are doing as illegal, a cop can still make money off you. I recommend smoking with friends only in this region.

* EGYPT: Illegal, but not strictly enforced, just don’t smoke in public. Also, don’t carry large quantities unless you’d like to see the inside of an Egyptian jail.
* MOROCCO: Illegal. Not recommended to smoke in public or to carry more than a few grams at a time–whatever you can quickly swallow or throw away. Tourists are usually let off with fines, but technically can be jailed for 4-10 years. Even more if you’re suspected of smuggling.

Having said all that, these are the nations in which cannabis is legal for consumption and where you should be able to smoke in peace:

Photo courtesy of author

* BELGIUM: Up to 5 grams.
* CZECH REPUBLIC: Personal use.
* GERMANY: Up to 5 grams.
* INDIA: All good.
* MACEDONIA: Up to 5 grams.
* NETHERLANDS: Coffee shops and parks, personal use.
* PAKISTAN: Ummm… All good, but as a tourist I would watch my back and smoke with Pakistani friends in their homes.
* PERU: Personal use, up to 5 grams.
* RUSSIA: Personal use, up to 5 grams If you are caught, you will have to pay low fines as possession of small amounts is still illegal
* VENEZUELA: Personal use, up to 5 grams.
* AUSTRALIA: Up to 50grams! (Certain states of Australia have decriminalized marijuana possession. In Tasmania, Victoria and Queensland one can be simply ticketed for up to 50 grams. If found in possession with intent to supply, convictions apply)

I use “up to five grams” because I like to err on the side of caution. I have smoked publicly with fishermen in Thailand, tea merchants in Egypt, farmers in SW China and all my homies throughout Europe and the US. I will continue to do so.

People all over the planet understand the need to just relax and do your thing after a long day. Some do it with alcohol, some with tea, some with weed, and some with a book.

Stick to the nations numbered above and if you need to puff elsewhere, be careful.

The Legend of Panama Red

In this story you´ll learn who and how this 12 ton load of Panama Red was smuggled into California.

Have you ever heard the legend of Panama Red?.I mean you have heard of Panama red,haven´t you?

Well,here´s the true story about a load that came into california,in 1969.

I drove up Highway 1,to Maple Street,in Tam Valley,and turned left.If you know where this is, it´s near to Mill Valley.I went to my connection´s house to see what what exotic weed had come in. He had Yucatan Green,which was fully filled into white plastic bags. It had a fruity aroma, and you could uncoil the kiwi colored green leaves back into their natural finger and hand shapes. I´ve never seen weed cured this well. It was somehow cured like pliable tobacco leaves. The price was $150 a pound,which was a lot back in those days.Next,a brown grocery sack came out of the closet, which I noticed was full of white plastic bags and the brown grocery bags. From my quick glance I estimated about 10 bags of weed in all.

As the top of the brown bag was unfolded, I immediately smelled the strong aroma of fresh tilled earth,perhaps the smell when you turn over a mulching log, combined with red clay. Then I distinguished another smell. The smell of fresh earth with a strong hashish smell. A handful of the well dried small nugs was pulled out and laid on the stainless steel plate of the triple-beam. I was in wonder as I had never seen any weed that wasn´t green or gold.To my amazement these small buds were a bright rusty color. Not brown like the Columbian Gold I scored a few years later,but you know,a rusty red color. I asked where is this weed from?

My connection told me the story.

This is Panama Red. This stuff grows in the mountains north of the Panama Canal.The soil is red to black,with rain all the time.It´s impossible to get this weed but I have access to about one ton of it.

How much is it for a pound? I asked him.

It´s $220 a pound. My wad of cash choked in my pocket, as I had thought that the Yucatan Green was expensive (he could read me). He pulled out a paper from his Zig-Zag packet, and rolled a pinhead joint. Then he lit it up, making a yellow flame as the empty paper end burned into the weed. He took the first puff,which sent off two thin intertwined lines of blue gray hashish like smoke, heading towards the ceiling.

If this were possibly, he looked even more euphoric from the one hit,and his eyes rolled back, and closed, as he slowly stabbed the smoking pinner across the table in my direction. As I reached out for it he said in a choked breath while exhaling smoke: "You´ll probably never get weed this good again."

I knew his word was always true. My connection and his group had smuggled hashish from Afghanistan,India and Morocco. He´d been busted for importing hash in the bottom of a crate of snakes. He always had exotic weed and hash. He wouldn´t mess around with the weed I could get from the pilots in my part of the state. The only stuff I could get in my area was Mexican weed which ran from $80 to $120 a brick. We called this weed "reg" for regular. The reg kilos or bricks came wrapped in red ,green or blue construction paper and was taped off with masking tape. This was the regular bottom line,non exotic weed that was somewhat harsh to the throat but got you stoned. We resold for $10 a lid, or if you weren´t around back then, a lid is an ounce.

The hash smell of the pinner was overcoming my thoughts as I took a hit of pure heaven. The smoke was so smooth, with a taste just like is unburnt of fresh clean earth and hashish. I thought it tasted like Lebanese Red hash,mixed with fresh earth,as I barely watched the smoke vining it´s way upwards. It was hash without the bite. Then the stone came on as I took my second hit. My senses suddenly kicked into hyper space as I became acutely aware of everything. My hearing,my thinking,my senses were all rocketed into Stonesville,which is a different place for every one of us. Within a minute:I realized I was really stoned.I laughed.Shortly after three hits,I started seeing trails, colors, and realized this weed was a psychedelic high too. Lots of colors and laughs,in a mellow floating state. A weed to bring out your innermost thoughts,to philosophize about the finer points of life and existence,with those of like mind.

In 1969, i bought five pounds of Panama Red, which is the most stony weed I have ever smoked,even to this day.When I got back home,where the local hippies were used to $10 price of an oz. of reg,I knew I couldn´t sell this rusty red weed.First,since it wasn´t green,they wouldn´t believe it was weed.Second,the price would be about four times what they were used to paying for an oz. of reg weed.I kept telling myself nobody was ready for this rusty weed which would send anybody,especially these locals to heaven.I knew that if I rolled pinners,it would take me years to smoke all this exotic weed.I figured out at least 80 joints to an oz,,and I had 80 ozs.,and let´s see,that´s 6400 joints.I couldn´t take time to do one a day,so I figured maybe 150 a year,and um,it would take me over forty-two years to smoke all of this weed.It would lose it´s potency after one year or two.Then the lightbulb came on.I´d roll about ten pinners and just give them away.I understood that even my friends could figure out that this was the best weed in the world.After they had smoked the fantastic weed,they would realize how stoned they were,and with the weed rolled up they wouldn´t know it wasn´t green!Great idea!I reached into my pocket again as I arrived at the toll booth on the Golden Gate Bridge entering to San Francisco,stoned out of my mind.

I want you to know something,when I got home,that´s exactly what I did.I passed out the pinners and asked my friends to just try it and give me their opinions.The questioned me about the small sized joints,and I said:what are you complaining about?it´s for free.Then the phone started ringing with questions like "What was that?,Is that laced with acid?That can´t be ordinary weed,Do you have any more?Then I got to tell the story of Panama Red to them,which if you ever smoked the real thing,I need not to say more.

MEETING THE SMUGGLER

On another score trip north,about one month later,I discovered that my connection had moved to Stinson Beach.You might know where he moved if you ever went there.It was the third house back from the beach.It was on the left,the one with the purple door.When the purple door opened,I gasped as I thought I saw my dad sitting down counting cash on a coffee table.I realized that it really wasn´t my Dad,but the guy was a dead ringer to my Dad.He had a receding conservative haircut,with brown hair,and graying sideburns.Same facial features.My connection introduced him,and for his protection,I´ll just call him Roy.Roy wqs counting out $40,000 cash,another installment for the fronting of his illegal,precious cargo of Panama Red to my connection.This was a lot of money for a weed deal back in 1969,and probably,one of a hundred bags of money picked up by Roy.You figure it out,if he sold his Panama Red for only $120 a pound,times 24,000 pounds he grossed about $2.9 million from his load.Thirty years ago this money had the purchasing power of about 4 times more than it woul buy today.However,I have no idea what Panama Red would cost today,as I never found it again.I´ve had Colombian Gold,but it´s more of a brown tobacco color.Red is a very earthy,and I haven´t ever seen any counterfeit stuff offered.I haven´t even seen the seeds offered.The $40,000 Roy was counting was only a payment for about 300 pounds.Payment for a ton woul be $240,000.Don´t forget he had the money from selling the fish too.

Roy was a very candid person,treating me as if he´d known me his whole life.He explained the Panama Red saga.He bought a surplus submarine chaser,a 90 footer.He sold most of the military gear and paid for the vessel with money left over.It was a typical government deal where millions were spent to build and outfit the ship,and then it was later sold for peanuts.Roy outfitted it as a fishing boat.He got a crew together and went south.He loaded in 12 tons of Panama Red and then he and his crew went fishing
got a small fleet of fishing and sailboats together.This fleet was obviously pre-planned.The fleet was a fleet of smugglers who went under the Golden Gate Bridge out about 25 miles and towards the Farallon Islands,where the panama Red was quickly offloaded onto these smaller boats.One Harbor Master inside the bay was in on it too,so there was little change of anybody getting caught.I can´t tell you if it was day or night,foggy or anything about the conditions,but I do know from other smugglers that they use the worst weather conditions for all of their activities.If it´s hard for them,it´s hard for the cops to catch them.Roy said he retired off this trip,and that he sold his fish,the ship and intended on paying the IRS it´s taxes on the fish,if any were due.Roy told me the city he lived in,and I´ll give you a hint,he lived between San Francisco,and San Jose.If you know him,tell him thanks from me.

I grew some plants from the very small brown seeds.The plants had stalks with alternating green and purple vertical lines.The dark green leaves had purple veins.I got tired of watering them,so I sold the crop where they stood by selling a map with it´s location.My friends nicknamed me Panama Red for waking them up to this high.There´s been no more Panama Red,that I´m aware of.If I´m wrong,I´d like to hear your story"

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