KOKOPELLI is on the Warmoesstraat in the middle of the red light district,

two minutes from the railway station and less than 50 metres from the

police station. It is bright and airy with stripped pine floors. Tall rear

windows overlook a stately 17th century canal. Anywhere else it might be a

designer clothes shop; this being Amsterdam, it is a designer drugs shop.

A year or so ago there were half a dozen of these "smart shops" but now

there are more than 150. They pose a problem for the Dutch government,

which has Europe's most tolerant and pragmatic drugs policy.

How exactly do you legislate against magic mushrooms and psycho-active

cacti -- not to mention those little white tablets that are almost, but not

quite, Ecstasy?

"Everything we sell here is completely legal," insisted Jeroen Burger, a

spokesman for Conscious Dreams, the small but fast-growing company that

launched the smart shop craze and recently opened Kokopelli. "OK, the

active ingredient in magic mushrooms is on the list of banned drugs. But we

don't sell the active ingredient. We sell the natural product."

Natural it may be, but the effect can be as powerful as many outlawed hard

drugs. Take, for example, Psilocybe tampanensis, the Magic Truffle,

disarmingly described as triggering a "remarkably clear trip, but not too

disorienting". Or Panaeolus cyanascens, which is "metabolised very quickly,

making the trip come on fast and strong". Both cost about $50 for five. In

Mr Burger's words, they amount to "legal hard drugs".

Moving up the scale of natural hallucinogens, Kokopelli also sells an

innocent-looking plant called Salvia divinorum. It carries a kick like a

mule: anyone choosing to smoke its leaves is advised to do so with friends

so they can catch the pipe.

The Netherlands already has its 1,200 famous coffee-shops, where the sale

of small quantities of marijuana for personal use is tolerated, in the

belief that it is better to keep such things out in the open, where they

can be supervised, than drive them underground.

In a recent long report, the Dutch health ministry tried to get to grips

with the smart-shop phenomenon. It wanted to know whether they were a

potentially lethal new development, or merely a kind of alternative

chemist, offering "safe" alternatives to banned drugs.

Its conclusion, firmly in the Dutch tradition of respect for individual

liberty, was that they were "not an unacceptable danger to society". For

the time being they will be tolerated, and closely watched.

They need watching closely. Because smart shops are also engaged in a

continual cat-and-mouse game with the authorities over synthetic drugs.

A couple of years ago GHB was banned outright when six Rotterdam teenagers

fell into a near-coma after combining it with alcohol. Within weeks, a

laboratory had produced an alternative.

Beneath Kokopelli's glass-topped counter lie some white pills -- 2C.T.2 --

described in its accompanying literature as a "psychedelic amphetamine". It

is sold in sets of two 8mg tablets, but beginners are strongly advised to

take just one, with a large amount of water. "Do not take 2C.T.2 alone

unless you are an experienced user," the handout warns. "Do not take it if

you are pregnant, diabetic, have high or low blood pressure, a heart

disease, have ever had hepatitis A or B, or have drunk alcohol."

To Mr Burger this is responsible Dutch drug dealing at its best. "You see,

the danger hardly ever lies in the product itself, but in the person using

it," he said.

"We test every product personally, and give detailed information to each

buyer. People will buy it anyway, and it's far better they do it from us

than from some street-corner dealer."

That is also, in essence, the policy of the health ministry. But do be

careful to follow the instructions.