Dutch Mayor wants tolerated growers!

[nolvanschaik]

Translation: Nol van Schaik.

 

Leers wants to tolerate growing weed too!!

 

Maastricht.

Mayor Leers of Maastricht wants to tolerate the production and supply of softdrugs. That should decrease criminality.

 

At present cannabis can be sold from coffeeshops, but production and supply of the shops is forbidden. According to Leers this stimulates criminal activities.

Tolerating the production must come with serious check-ups on quantities and quality of the drugs. This can only take place if the neighboring cities in Belgium and Germany cooperate in this culture of tolerance.

 

Source: Teletext NOS, Dutch News Broadcaster.

 

So much for those who announce the end of the Dutch coffeeshop culture, instead of being erased, if we believe foreign press, we are about to have a regular line of supply.

Holland is a democracy, if this goes for Maastricht, it will go for the entire country!!

 

The Netherlands will not give up on their coffeeshops, not under foreign pressure, and not because we run out of grass!!

Fuck all doomsayers, especially those who suffer from complete ignorance concerning cannabis!!!

I would like to praise Mayor Leers, who is a realist!

 

May we smoke in peace,

 

Nol van Schaik.

[nolvanschaik]

Amsterdam -- Maastricht Mayor Gerd Leers has called for the toleration of soft drugs in the Netherlands to be extended to the production and supply of cannabis in a bid to reduce crime.

 

Presently, both possession and the sale of cannabis at so-called "coffee shops" is tolerated, but the production of marijuana and the supply to coffee shops is banned.

 

Leers said the ban on the cultivation and supply of cannabis leads to criminality, news agency ANP reported on Sunday. Small-scale cannabis cultivation for private use is already tolerated.

 

Tolerating commercial production would decriminalise the industry and police resources would therefore be freed up for other tasks, he said.

 

But Leers also warned that extended toleration should be accompanied by greater inspections on the amount and quality of the drugs.

 

Leers said drugs cannot be eliminated and should therefore be legalised and controlled. But he said legalisation could only occur in a European context.

 

Opening up of the cannabis market could thus only occur if Maastricht's neighbouring councils in Belgium and Germany also co-operated. This would give a definite signal to The Hague and Brussels.

 

Leers comments come in the lead-up to a cannabis conference in Maastricht in April, to be attended by the southern Dutch city's neighbouring councils. Drug tourists often cross the border to avail of the Dutch coffee shop policy.

 

And Leers' proposal is in contrast to his hard-line stance against trailer parks. These parks often operate as "free states" where people can live almost tax free and are frequently the site of cannabis plantations.

 

He also said during a visit to the US last month with other politicians and city mayors that the Netherlands was no longer the land where everything is allowed.

 

Leers said tolerance is okay, but only works within well defined parameters that must be carefully guarded.

 

Asserting that the Netherlands was getting tougher, Leers said it was never too late to clean up your own rubbish. He said the US needed to know the Dutch were no "softies" when it comes to drugs.

 

Source: Expatica.com (Amsterdam)

Published: Marcch 14, 2005

Copyright: 2005 Expatica News

Contact: feedback@expatica.com

Website: http://www.expatica.c

[Rheinpirat]

Hey,

 

yea that rules! You dutch still have the "backdoor" problem with your headshopes, and therefore changes about the cultivation of cannabis are more than appreciated. Let's see what happens....