To go from being awestruck by a Rembrandt to then be plunged into a halo of intoxicating smoke — as a police van passed — was something of an emotional rollercoaster.

It’s been permitted to buy small quantities of marijuana since the 1970s in designated coffee shops in Amsterdam. The policy was initially implemented off the back of a heroin epidemic in the Netherlands and a review of drug controls.

It seems to have been effective, as the number of hard drug addicts has stabilised over the years and their average age has gone up to 38, which is seen as a positive by drug experts.

Alcohol cannot be sold in these cafes, and they usually have plentiful supplies of chocolate, and hot and cold drinks instead.

This was all explained at great length by a taxi driver who drove us home — through the rain — one night. He had just stopped at a new coffee shop (owned by legendary former boxer Mike Tyson) to buy some of the cake they offered.

The taxi man happily informed us that after most shifts he would go home, eat some cannabis-infused cake and play video games before falling asleep. He was in his thirties and chatted about going out with friends to festivals and concerts, but what was interesting was there was no belittling of the friends who didn’t use cannabis.

This is in vast contrast to the Irish, where if you refuse a drink and you’re not pregnant or on prescription medication, you’re subjected to a group psychiatric assessment/interrogation.

For a small country we have our fair share of taboos, and alcohol has a hold over more social occasions than we like to admit.

You could be thinking Amsterdam is ripe for social issues too: they have legalised marijuana for over 18s, they have plentiful supplies of good beer and a popular red-light district.

But their biggest issue is rowdy tourists. Their tourist board recently put out an ad asking English men in particular not to come.

All of this got me thinking that Ireland should legalise marijuana and incentivise Irish farmers to grow it. Yes, you are probably thinking I over-indulged in wacky baccy over the long weekend.

However, consider the facts and figures. Hemp is already grown with reasonable success in this country. It’s meant to be brilliant for soil fertility and sequestering carbon.

As a small farmer with 60ac, growing oats on mixed land is never going to make money, but growing a high-value crop on a small plot of land could.

On the potential customer side, a study of European countries found that over 90pc of Irish people responding had used marijuana. These figures are replicated in other studies solely based on Ireland — marijuana is by far the most popular drug — no matter the age group.

Cannabis worth tens of millions of euro is seized by Gardaí every year. This could be revenue that is regulated and taxed.

We could have a system where coffee shops could only buy and sell regulated Irish-grown cannabis — our stereotypical green branding might even help!

I am sure some of you are still reeling and think the suggestion is ridiculous. There are fears it will corrupt the youth and work as a gateway to other drugs.

However, every year the Health Research Board here confirms that the most misused drug is the one that is already fully legal in Ireland — alcohol.

Pretending there isn’t a substantial market for marijuana in this country is pointless.

Harnessing, regulating and standardising this demand actually breaks the taboo that lures some people to try it, and creates a new market for an agriculture industry that is being constantly told to diversify.

Who knows, depending on the quality of his cake baking, we might even let Mike Tyson set up his second coffee shop in Dublin.

Hannah Quinn-Mulligan is a journalist and an organic beef and dairy farmer; templeroedairy.ie