Amsterdam to shut many weed cafes

[kiwi_farmer]

22/11/08

Copyright © 2008 The Press Association. All rights reserved

 

 

Amsterdam will close almost a fifth of its marijuana cafes to comply with a national ban on having them near schools, the city's mayor said.

 

Another city, Eindhoven, said it would start issuing permits to cannabis growers in order to better regulate the trade - if the national government approves.

 

The plans were announced as 33 major Dutch cities held a "weed summit" to discuss the nation's long-standing policy of tolerating marijuana use while routinely arresting growers.

 

Cannabis is technically illegal in the Netherlands, but can be sold in small amounts in designated cafes - euphemistically known as "coffee shops" -- without fear of prosecution. More than a quarter of the country's cafes are in Amsterdam, where they are a major tourist attraction.

 

But Mayor Job Cohen said the city would close about 20% of its cafes.

 

Those included some landmarks, such as The Bulldog - a high-traffic shop operating since 1985 in a former police station on one of the city's main squares.

 

Letters have been sent to 43 shops located within 250 yards of a high school, informing them they will have to close by the end of 2011 if they cannot successfully appeal the decision, Amsterdam spokeswoman Iris Reshef said. But she added that the city did not have any major problems with the cafes.

 

Other cities closer to the Netherlands' borders have expressed frustration at being bombarded by "drug tourists" from Germany, France or Belgium seeking to stock up on marijuana - an often finding ways to bypass a 5 gram (one fifth of an ounce) purchase limit.

 

"If the border areas shut down tomorrow, then (inland cities) Den Helder and Almere will soon be suffering," said Mayor Geert Leers of the southern border city Maastricht.

 

Representatives at the summit in Almere, 12 miles east of Amsterdam, also discussed the policy of arresting growers, which left cafes with no way to legally source their most lucrative product.

[Rocker]

We better circle the waggons because we are being surrounded.

 

I dunno where we go for shelter, fair go.

[len71]

sad mate sad ,why do goverments think we are incapable of making up our own mind, just makes me even more convinced the world has gone mad.

[Major Overgrow]

Fight For Freedom.

Fight with your seeds.

Plant them *everywhere* (& I mean EVERYWHERE).

This is how the war will be won, When they can't get rid of them, EVER.

Edited November 24, 2008 by Major Overgrow