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Hash, Marijuana & Hemp Museum Amsterdam

It’s not surprising that Amsterdam is home to a museum of Hash, Marijuana and Hemp, given its generally tolerant policy toward soft drugs. You’d think, given the somewhat subversive subject, that it would be entertaining to visit.

It wasn’t.

Text: Hash, Marijuana & Hemp Museum. Image: a bottle of "Indian CAnnabis."
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The main part of the museum (hash and marijuana)

The main part of the museum inhabits the ground floor of two attached row houses: two shopfronts, in other words. It is packed with exhibits, but not particularly well-presented. The rooms are brightly-lit, and the space is filled for the most part with glass-fronted display cases. The glass reflects the light, making it hard at times to see what’s inside the cases, especially toward the back of the cabinet.

An array of books and pamphlets about cannabis.
miscellany in a glass case

Inside the cases, the items are crowded together, jumbled, unlabeled. One shows pipes and other pot-smoking tools. Another contains a collection of vintage anti-marijuana propaganda: books, pamphlets and so on. Antique medicinal bottles showing cannabis as the active ingredient are assembled in another cabinet, while another contains medicines meant for veterinary purposes. And so on. It looks like someone’s personal collection that outgrew the available shelving in their attic.

two antique bottles: one is pills of "Indian cannabis"; the other is "Extractum Cannabis"
a few bottles from the collection of antique medicines containing cannabis and other drugs

Which, by the way, is exactly what it is, according to the museum’s website. Most of the items were collected by Ben Dronker, a “cannabis entrepreneur,” before the museum opened in 1987.

Any remaining wall space that’s not blocked by glass-fronted cabinets is packed with framed photos, drawings and lithographs: botanical, historical, propaganda (for and against) and so on, very few with labels, and many too high up to see well. Nothing is presented interactively, unless you count a few videos.

A wall covered with framed pictures.
A section of one of the picture walls, this one showing antique photos and lithographs involving cannabis use

The second storefront, containing the medical displays, smells slightly of marijuana: four plants grow there, in a brightly-lit room, glassed-in, I presume, to prevent customers from stealing any.

some pipes propped in front of a picture of Shakespeare with two of his sonnets.
This display rather broadly interprets Shakespeare’s sonnets 76 and 27 as being about marijuana.

I’m not saying there isn’t plenty to learn here. The audio tour, included in the €9 admission fee, gives plenty of information about many of the items on display. The problem is that it contains an overwhelming amount of information and I, with my usual lack of patience, could not listen to the whole thing at each stop.

You might also enjoy these other articles from my series on small Amsterdam museums:

The admission  price includes a “gallery” in another storefront half a block away, devoted specifically to hemp and its uses. In other words, despite being somewhat better laid out and more artfully lit, it’s even duller than the storefronts devoted to hash and marijuana.

Here you can learn about the industrial uses of hemp and objects made from hemp, with explanations of how hemp is used for making ropes, reinforcing cars, and so on, emphasizing how strong it is. In this “gallery” some of the items are not actually behind glass: a loom, for example, and a big piece of hemp rope. If possible, it was even less interesting than the first part of the museum. Yawn.

A loom with a partially woven cloth in it.
the loom in the hemp section of the Hash, Marijuana & Hemp Museum

Perhaps when I was a teenager I would have found this museum titillating: a hint of the forbidden, especially seeing those live plants openly displayed. I guess the problem is that marijuana and hash are not really forbidden in the Netherlands: “coffee shops,” where marijuana is freely available, are everywhere. When something that was once forbidden is allowed, it just isn’t exciting anymore.

Would I recommend the Hash, Marijuana & Hemp Museum? If you’re into hash and marijuana and have a lot more patience than I do, sure. You could learn a lot here: about hash and pot themselves, of course, but also about the arguments for and against legalization, the different ways these drugs have been viewed throughout history, the variety of uses for cannabis, the “war on drugs,” and so on.

If you’ve come for a thrill, though, don’t bother. Instead, go to one of the coffee shops in the neighborhood and partake of some yourself. It will be far more entertaining.

If you decide to go, click on this link to order your tickets.

Use the map below to find accommodations in Amsterdam:

Hash, Marijuana and Hemp Museum: Oudezijds Achterburgwal 148, in the center of the old historic district. It will take about 10-15 minutes to walk there from Amsterdam Central Station: about 1 km. To take public transportation, take the 51 metro to Nieuwmarkt and walk for about 4 minutes from there. Open Monday-Thursday 12:00-20:00; Friday-Sunday 10:00-22:00. Buy tickets through this link.

Have you been to this museum? Did you enjoy it more than I did? Leave a comment below!

(Last edited August 22, 2024)

My travel recommendations

Planning travel

  • Skyscanner is where I always start my flight searches.
  • Booking.com is the company I use most for finding accommodations. If you prefer, Expedia offers more or less the same.
  • Discover Cars offers an easy way to compare prices from all of the major car-rental companies in one place.
  • Use Viator or GetYourGuide to find walking tours, day tours, airport pickups, city cards, tickets and whatever else you need at your destination.
  • Bookmundi is great when you’re looking for a longer tour of a few days to a few weeks, private or with a group, pretty much anywhere in the world. Lots of different tour companies list their tours here, so you can comparison shop.
  • GetTransfer is the place to book your airport-to-hotel transfers (and vice-versa). It’s so reassuring to have this all set up and paid for ahead of time, rather than having to make decisions after a long, tiring flight!
  • Buy a GoCity Pass when you’re planning to do a lot of sightseeing on a city trip. It can save you a lot on admissions to museums and other attractions in big cities like New York and Amsterdam.
  • It’s really awkward to have to rely on WIFI when you travel overseas. I’ve tried several e-sim cards, and GigSky’s e-sim was the one that was easiest to activate and use. You buy it through their app and activate it when you need it. Use the code RACHEL10 to get a 10% discount!
  • I’m a fan of SCOTTeVEST’s jackets and vests because when I wear one, I don’t have to carry a handbag. I feel like all my stuff is safer when I travel because it’s in inside pockets close to my body.
  • I use ExpressVPN on my phone and laptop when I travel. It keeps me safe from hackers when I use public or hotel wifi.

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I saw a news report a couple of months ago that reported that marijuana use among teens has declined significantly in Colorado since they legalized it there.

hysterical! Not sure why you’d go to a hash, etc. museum – clearly meant for backpackers who want a giggle while they pretend to be historical. I’ve heard lots about the medicinal uses of hemp – I’ve had stomach issues in the past and the alternative therapist suggested adding hemp to my diet. Decided I’d rather give up wheat than chew on rope 🙂

Seems quite interesting actually … there is an intellectual side to the subject, as subject matter around marijuana doesn’t have to be lurid as we’ve all become accustomed.

A museum for marijuana. Cool..haven’t heard of this before.

Legalizing Marijuana is still an issue being discussed in many countries. I agree that when something forbidden is allowed, it would not be exciting anymore. We should be open minded on the benefits of this plant.

Any city is bound to have a tourist trap, so I am sure Amsterdam is no different. While I don’t like being ripped off when I travel, I can’t say that I like to go as cheap as possible. I have some comfort expectations when I travel and I am sure I would have wanted to check this little museum out. Definitely something cool to loo at!

I didn’t even know there was a hemp museum so this is really cool to see. I can’t wait to check it out.

This seems like a pretty interesting museum. There are a lot of uses for hump and marijuana and this is definitely a cool way to showcase it. Thanks for sharing.

You make an interesting point about the forbidden. Many things that loose the barrier are not always attractive as they were once it was up.

Your distinction between the ideal use of the coffee shops vs. the museum is pretty sensible. Now, that the substance is readily available in your location, a museum does not hold the same titillating allure and can now be viewed with an information centered perspective by those interested in the subject itself as well as the history rather than thrills they can find elsewhere.

Thanks for the post I found that quite interesting. Museums can be boring at the best of times, when you were in Amsterdam did you visit a CoffeeShop before going to the museum? 😛 Happy Blogging!

Thanks for giving us a view inside the history of hash, marijuana and hemp museum. I think this post should be interesting to everyone who loves to study people’s behavior (if they’re not interested in the marijuana and all that themselves) and changes in their actions with it as time progresses forward. So, apart from the elements themselves, we also got to see how human beings interacted with it all.

Like you stated, I think someone who was particularly interested in the history of marijuana and it effects would love to go and experience this. Thanks so much for sharing!

Very interesting! A museum all about cannabis is a very cool concept. Not many people are very educated on the plant. Thanks for sharing!

thank you for sharing this information