On Wednesday, Bill Clinton visited the city of Rotterdam (the Netherlands) to hold a speech for CEO's, NGOs and authorities concerning the topic of global warming and the need for innovative solutions. On this occasion, ENCOD (European Coalition for Just and Effective Drug Policies) and the Rotterdam based company HEMPFLAX (specialised in the manufacturing of hemp products) personally handed over a public letter to Clinton We also tried to give him a bottle of hemp oil, but the security would not let us. Read the letter at http://www.encod.org/info/ENCOD-WRITES-LETTER-TO-BILL.html Rotterdam is the first city in the Netherlands where the policy of the new Dutch government will be put in practice to close coffeeshops that are situated less than 250 meters of schools. On October 1st, the city announced a plan to close 18 of the 62 existing coffeeshops by June 2009. All of the shops involved are considering legal steps to counter this decision, which is seen as the first concrete move to end tolerant policy concerning cannabis in the Netherlands. Best wishes, Joep Oomen