14.7 million dollar fine !

[Innocent criminal]

Coffee shop rolled in Dutch dope bust

By Rachael Brown

 

The Netherlands' biggest cannabis-selling coffee shop has been fined almost $15 million for breaching the country's relatively lax drug laws.

 

A Dutch court fined the owner of Amsterdam's Checkpoint cafe after police seized more than 200 kilograms of cannabis on the premises.

 

Licensed cafes are only allowed to stock half a kilogram of cannabis under Netherlands law, a limit often flouted.

 

The Dutch court said the $14.7 million fine would have been higher had it not been for a lax approach to the sales and use of soft drugs.

 

It said authorities had known for years about the thousands of people visiting Checkpoint, but did not act.

 

Sentences for other workers and suppliers ranged from warnings to those who rolled joints to six-week jail terms.

Author:Rachael Brown

Date:26/3/10

Source:ABC News online

Copyright:ABC

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/03...?section=justin

 

Ouch 14.7mil thats gotta hurt

 

 

more in depth article...

 

Holland's biggest cannabis coffee shop fined £7m

The owner of Holland's biggest cannabis-vending coffee shop has been fined £7 million for overstepping the country's relaxed drug laws.

Published: 6:55PM GMT 25 Mar 2010

 

The penalty was imposed after police seized more than 200 kilos (440lbs) of the drug on its premises. About 700 licensed coffee shops countrywide are permitted to stock up to 500 grams (17oz) of cannabis at any given time under the Opium Act.

 

But the court said the fine would have been larger had it not been for the "role of the authorities" in coffee shop Checkpoint's long-standing success.

 

In a statement, judges said: "Checkpoint could not have expanded as much as it did without collaboration from the municipality of Terneuzen. Also, the police never warned that the coffee shop had to scale down."

 

Coffee shop owner Meddy Willemsen, 58, was tried with 15 others, including former employees and suppliers, for drug trafficking and involvement in a criminal organisation.

 

The other sentences ranged from warnings for those who "rolled the joints" and delivered the cannabis, to six-week jail terms for the manager and three vendors.

 

Though technically illegal, the Dutch decriminalised the consumption and possession of under five grams (0.18oz) of cannabis in 1976 under an official "tolerance" policy.

 

Cannabis cultivation and mass retail remain illegal and are in the hands of criminal organisations in a black-market business worth £2 billion per year.

 

Before shutting its doors in May 2008, Checkpoint counted up to 3,000 customers a day, mainly French and Belgian.

 

The Checkpoint trial, described by prosecutors as the biggest of its kind, was widely viewed as a test case in a country that has been toughening its stance on soft drug use.

 

The government mooted plans last year to transform coffee shops near the Belgian border into private clubs, to address what critics describe as the nuisance created by millions of drug tourists a year.

 

The capital, Amsterdam, has said it will halve its number of coffee shops, while other cities are closing shops within a certain distance from schools.

Date: 25/3/10

Source:telegraph.co.uk

Copyright:telegraph media group

[Frazz]

yea thats big ... but i reckon they deserve it , they got greedy and werent happy with the relaxed laws , its ppl like that who fuck things up for the rest of the coffeeshops who DO do the right thing

and they wonder why the authorities are talking of curbing the coffeshops growth

some ppl dont know when they on a good thing ya know

 

[Innocent criminal]

Yeah mate, as the judges stated they got off light mostly because the system had turned a blind eye up to that point. To me that translates to "we didn't want to dig any deeper as there was too much dirt turning up on too many people". They would have some idea how many tourist dollars flow through the coffee shops and they probably don't want to upset the boat too much.

 

Sort of sounds like that coffee shop pissed off the wrong people and got thrown to the sharks, after all they are but one of many coffee shops who operated in pretty much the same fashion...

[malbuzz]

Thats big buisness for ya . i agree Frazz , greed is the issue .

 

The government mooted plans last year to transform coffee shops near the Belgian border into private clubs, to address what critics describe as the nuisance created by millions of drug tourists a year.

 

there is a supply and demand issue here . instead of closing the coffee shops they should open more . creating new buisness more jobs and bring in more money from taxes . it would also spread the tourism about rather than congesting one area , problem solved . fuck the fat cats off .

[Nooby]

The owner of Holland's biggest cannabis-vending coffee shop has been TAXED £7 million for overstepping the country's relaxed drug laws.

 

 

fixed.

[everest]

that be normal shite .. bit of a fine , i been the dam a dozen times , often spot cars just crawling around cbd with huge quantities of weed .. skunk .. just drying in the breeze .. ..

 

ev

[malbuzz]

I suppose so Nooby . wouldnt make any sence to double the coffee shops employ twice the people , create a whole new agricultural industry ,creating more jobs more tax,s opening up the doorways to many taxable products which would be in excess of billions of dollars . dont want all them stoned tourists hanging about and being happy with smiles from ear to ear .

 

The capital, Amsterdam, has said it will halve its number of coffee shops, while other cities are closing shops within a certain distance from schools

 

now a $15 million fine is fair , they broke the rules . But closing half the coffee shops is a step in the wrong direction . now there will be more congestion more shops having to risk keeping up the demand . more bad publicity . they will want to shut it all down at this rate . no more drug tourists , problem solved .

Edited March 26, 2010 by malbuzz

[Budman2012]

Really? ... geez , 15 million sounds a bit rich ...

After all the authorities were turning a blind eye for so long so what did they expect?

Not even to mention that they would probably sell that amount in no time flat anyway ... so as stated above , It's just a supply and demand issue ... I think it's right to say they need more outlets spread around the country ... decreasing will only lead in a backwards direction back towards the problems associated with prohibition.

 

Also I agree that it seems likely they may have pissed off a 'high roller' somewhere along the line ... more to it than we may get to know. "Involvement in a Criminal Organization was mentioned" ...

Hopefully this doesn't disturb the balance too much , they've been going so well all these years

 

Anyhoo ... Thanx for the News

Cheerz

 

Budman