Mellow Yellow coffeeshop legislation in Amsterdam requiring 28 coffeeshops located within 250 meters of schools to close. The owner protested that the school was a hairstyling academy with students generally over the age of 18, but the Amsterdam government still required its closure, in part to protect the remaining coffeeshops in Amsterdam from the requirements used in other parts of the Netherlands which bar foreigners from cannabis coffeeshops. The owner Johnny Petram stated his hope that he would be able to reopen Mellow Yellow at a new location. Mellow Yellow coffeeshop Mellow Yellow was the oldest cannabis coffee shop in Amsterdam, prior to
Legal history of cannabis in the United States of 1998, California voters had approved Proposition 215 to legalize medical cannabis, and similar measures were up for vote in several more states. In response to these developments, House Joint Resolution 117 was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on September 15, 1998, to declare support for "the existing Federal legal process for determining the safety and efficacy of drugs" and oppose "efforts to circumvent this process by legalizing marijuana ... for medicinal use without valid scientific evidence and [FDA] approval". The measure passed by a 310 to 93 vote. Following the passage of Proposition 215, the Oakland Cannabis