InternationalTourists no longer welcome in cannabis-selling coffee sho

[grace]

The Dutch government wants to maintain its tolerant policy towards cannabis and keep so-called coffee shops open, but they should no longer be tourist attractions, Dutch ministers wrote in a letter that was leaked to the press on Tuesday.

Only registered members will be able to buy soft drugs from coffee shops.

 

The ministers of justice, home affairs and health wrote that reducing the number of coffee shops and keeping foreigners out should make it easier to reduce crime and other nuisances the coffee shops are now causing.

 

A government memorandum on altering the coffee shop policy and other drug-related issues is expected this fall, but the letter already shows where the ministers now stand. They want to implement a members-only system to keep tourists out.

 

Herds of tourist who buy their drugs in border towns near Belgium and Germany have become a pest in several places and neighbouring countries have expressed their dissatisfaction with the Dutch system.

 

The Netherlands has been tolerant about the use and sale of weed and hash for three decades. Cultivation and wholesale of the drug are prohibited however. This discrepancy has become known as the 'gedoogbeleid' (tolerance policy).

 

An advisory committee said in July that the policy has gotten out of control in the past 15 years and needs to go back to small, private shops for local users. It advised against legalising soft drugs altogether.

 

The ministers want municipalities to implement a members-only system, where members can by up to three grammes of hash or weed each with their (Dutch) bank card. This should make it less appealing for tourists to travel to the Netherlands to buy cannabis. The ministers will also allow experiments where coffeeshops can have larger quantities of drugs stocked. Currently, a coffeeshop can have 500 grammes in store and an alternative supply system via drugs runners is a source of nuisance.

 

The three coalition parties in the government have long disagreed about the overhaul of the drug policy. Christian democrat CDA had called for an end to the tolerance policy and the orthodox Christian ChristenUnie agreed, but the Labour party PvdA believes banning coffeeshops will not solve the problems of crime, nuisance and health and wants to legalise the whole chain of supply.

 

Date: 9 September 2009

Author: By our news staff

Source: NRC Handelsblad

http://www.nrc.nl/international/article235...ng_coffee_shops

[Crunchy]

nuuuuuuu!

i hope this doesnt go through otherwise it'll be a waste of time going to amsterdam...

[chuffer]

Its unlikely to go through without a fight because of the damage it would do to tourism.

However it shows how important it is for stoners to conduct themselves well, and to respect the values of the countries where they visit. Remember every stoner is an ambassador for his lifestyle

[elbhar]

well that sucks.

I want to go to Europe in 2011.

Hopefully Spain and Prtugal have coffee shops by then.

Maybe California will have it outright legalized?

[Crunchy]

well that sucks.

I want to go to Europe in 2011.

Hopefully Spain and Prtugal have coffee shops by then.

Maybe California will have it outright legalized?

 

theres a good chance that it will be legalized in cali next year

[chuffer]

A few years back I spent a year in europe. the MJ laws were different all over the place but whenever I was missing a good stone I'd just bus or fly to Amsterdam (dirt cheap flights within europe) and step into one of their cool coffee houses. It really was like paradise with a friendly cool vibe, usually a dozen or more different smokes on the menu. Holland got a lot of tourist dollars off me and all the others doing the same - accommodation, travel, food and the like; but more than the dough, it was tremendous pr for them, giving the dutch a reputation for tolerance and their high degree of civilisation. I do hope they don't mess up the great laws they have cos it would really spoil their country.

[FDL]

Ohhh nooo that will ruin any plans of goin amsterdam, although I could still go look at sum architecture or something haha.

[MadamePandora]

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,26066631-23109,00.html

 

Further info

 

Dutch U-turn on soft drugs tolerance

 

By Alix Rijckaert in The Hague, The Netherlands

 

Agence France-Presse

 

September 13, 2009 12:19pm

 

 

ALARMED by the side effects of its tolerant approach to soft drugs, the Dutch Government announced plans this week to limit drug tourism by reserving hundreds of cannabis-vending coffee shops for locals.

 

"The sale of hashish and cannabis in coffee shops must be limited and aimed solely at the local user,'' said a cabinet statement on Friday, days before a mayoral ban on marijuana sales enters into force for eight such shops near the Belgian border.

 

Faced with the dilemma of criminal control over cannabis cultivation and the "nuisance'' created by millions of drug tourists a year, authorities have been taking an increasingly tougher stance on recreational drugs.peSome analysts point to a growing conservatism under the Christian Democrat-led Government.

 

In the clearest indication yet of its global vision for the future, the cabinet on Friday broadly adopted the advice of a committee it had appointed to help in a review of national drug policy.

 

The commission said in July "the situation has gotten out of hand'', advising that "coffee shops should again become what they were originally meant to be: vending points for local users and not large-scale suppliers to consumers from neighbouring countries.''

 

The cabinet said it wanted to "limit the nuisance and crime risks''.

 

"The consensus is that it should be much more difficult for tourists to buy from Dutch coffee shops," justice ministry spokeswoman Karen Temmink said.

 

A draft new drugs policy is to be presented to parliament by year-end.

 

The Netherlands decriminalised the consumption and possession of under five grammes of cannabis in 1976. There are some 700 licensed coffee shops.

 

Paradoxically, cultivation remains illegal and the two-billion-euro-a-year industry, according to police, is effectively in the hands of the criminal underworld.

 

In another unintended consequence, several border towns complain of the burdens associated with a weekly influx of tens of thousands of tourists, mainly Belgian, French and German.

 

Among recent steps taken to deal with these problems, Amsterdam has said it would halve its number of coffee shops, citing criminality, while other cities are to close those within a certain radius of schools.

 

In the southern Limburg province, 30 coffee shops announced recently they would become private members' clubs from next year and reduce the daily limit from five to three grammes per person.

 

Patrons would require membership cards and a Dutch debit card to pay with, effectively cutting off tourists.

 

The Limburg move is backed by the national Government, and is one of several pilot projects whose results will be incorporated in its new policy.

 

Roosendaal and Bergen-op-Zoom, two other southern border councils, announced last year that their eight coffee shops would be interdicted from selling cannabis from next Wednesday in a bid to push back some 25,000 drug tourists per week.

 

This should make an end, the mayors explained, to the long lines of foreign cars on their roads, hundreds of youths hovering outside coffee shops on weekends, and illegal drug dealers attracted by their presence.

 

The owners of the eight coffee shops challenged the mayors' actions in court on Friday.

 

Judgment is expected next Tuesday.

 

Meanwhile, the two municipalities have launched a campaign to inform youths about the pending changes, including a three-minute video clip entitled "It is over'', to be shown in cinemas in nearby Antwerp in Belgium.

 

The clip shows three Belgian tourists arriving to find the doors of their favourite coffee shop closed. They end up in a police van after an encounter with illegal dealers.

 

Though the video clip has a humourous undertone, the message couldn't be more serious.

 

From Wednesday, "law enforcement will be stepped up to put an immediate stop to any illegal street sales'', Roosendaal spokesman Dirk Timmers said.

 

 

 

 

Looks to me like pressure from their neighbours finally forced a change.

 

Let's hope California fully legalises, and maybe tourism to USA might be viable?

[Gee]

Wow I guess I'm pretty lucky. We are heading to Europe on Wednesday! I hope anti-prohibitionists don't use this as ammunition against legalization.

[Rocker]

One step forwards and two steps backwards. And it's been that way for a while.

Don't forget it wasn't that long ago it was legal to grow a few plants in one or two states here in OZ.

 

And you can bet even if California does legalise cannabis in some way they too will come under pressure from outside their borders to change again.

It might only take a change of Govenor to go back to the dark ages.

 

The only people who can make the big changes are politicians (lawmakers) and they aren't too keen on rocking boats in the electorate.

I wished it were otherwise but I can't see any big changes for decades.