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
Cannabis in California In 1972, California became the first state to vote on a ballot measure seeking to legalize cannabis. Proposition 19 – the California Marijuana Initiative – sought to legalize the use, possession, and cultivation of cannabis, but did not allow for commercial sales. The initiative was spearheaded by the group Amorphia, which was founded in 1969 (by Blair Newman) and financed its activities through the sale of hemp rolling papers. It was ultimately defeated by a wide margin (33–67%), but supporters were encouraged by the results, which provided momentum to other reform efforts in California in subsequent years. In 1974, Amorphia