Former Berkeley Patients Group employee and longtime East Bay activist Debby Goldsberry provides an eyewitness account of the first-ever raid at Amsterdam’s High Times Cannabis Cup this year.
Goldsberry came to Amsterdam — where pot is decriminalized but not legal — to judge the Cup’s indicas and receive the High Times Freedom Fighter of the Year Award. But after the raid kicked off, local police harassed organizers over the course of three days — though in a distinctly Dutch fashion.
For example, cops allowed Cup attendees at the expo to smoke evidence before a search. Authorities also banned smoking indoors at the awards ceremony, but allowed attendees to step outside and light up — across the street from a police station. Some excerpts below: