Mellow Yellow coffeeshop Mellow Yellow was unsuccessfully raided by police several times. Unpackaged cannabis, bought from wholesalers including drug lord Klaas Bruinsma, was hidden behind secret doors and shutters. In 1975, the concept was adopted by a shop named Russia situated on the same street as Mellow Yellow and was followed by another coffee shop called The Bulldog. Now there are 223 such coffee shops in Amsterdam. Bruining also runs Stichting Mediwiet (Medi Cannabis Foundation), a group that supports the legalization of growing marijuana for medicinal uses. The shop was closed at the strike of the New Year in 2017, due to new
Legal history of cannabis in the United States 1972 report to the President and Congress that the societal harms caused by cannabis were limited, and recommended removal of criminal penalties for possession and distribution of small amounts of the drug. While President Nixon was furious with the commission and publicly rejected its findings, supporters of reform frequently cited the report's recommendations to build support for decriminalization in subsequent years. In 1972, California became the first state to vote on a ballot measure attempting to legalize cannabis. Proposition 19 – the California Marijuana Initiative – sought to legalize the use, possession, and cultivation of cannabis, but did not allow