Daily Mail - Dutch cannabis cafes fight government plan to ban tourists from their...

[edgarshade]

Dutch cannabis cafes fight government plan to ban tourists from their venues

PUBLISHED: 11:59, 19 April 2012 | UPDATED: 11:59, 19 April 2012

With reader comments

A group of Dutch coffee shop owners has gone to court in an attempt to overturn a ban on tourists using their establishments to smoke cannabis. The so-called 'cannabis cafes', which legally sell and allow visitors to smoke the drug on their property, have long been popular among foreign visitors to the city. But a year ago the Dutch government approved legislation to turn the cafes into members-only venues with foreigners denied access.

The move is due to come into effect in the south of Holland on May 1, and elsewhere - including Amsterdam - next January. The government says it will reduce 'drugs tourism' to the country and the petty crime and nuisance it claims the practice causes. Southern cities in particular have face problems with customers buying cannabis in the coffee shops and selling it on in neighbouring countries. But lawyers representing several cannabis cafes have told a court in The Hague that the law is discriminatory.

More...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-2132007/Dutch-cannabis-cafes-court-fight-tourist-ban.html

 

[Crankinit]

Instead of foreigners coming over the border, buying weed and taking it home to sell, they'll have locals buying weed, selling it to foreigners outside the cafe's at a mark up. It's completely absurd, they're just handing the trade right back to the black market, with all the associated problems.

Besides, don't the shops have a 5g limit or something? Not like they're picking it up by the kilo.

 

[Madhatter4]

This is a bad move for the Dutch Government to take for so many reasons I dont even know where to begin...

 

[citizen cained]

Well the Dutch government will see a dramatic decrease in tourism full stop and as a result, decrease in income from tourists. Talk about biting off the hand that feeds you..

 

[LuGoJ]

I have family there and they tell me the government is also going crazy with slashing funding for art programs and schools, I forgot the name but apparently a very famous art school that tons of famous artists have passed through is closing as a result of this. Will try to remember the name.

 

[kracks]

Isn't this decided on a local basis? and didn't most cities agree to keep the coffeeshops untill about 2014 when it would be reviewed. I thought this was all blown over a while back, and decided against especialy in the cities like Amsterdam and Utrecht...

 

[Mercc96]

right wing lunatics man, ruining everything.

 

[slimvictor]

I just got back from a short time in Amsterdam; this is the 4th time I have been there.
I got to sample 100% sativa (amazingly good, but very different than an indica high), and incredibly potent hash.

Holland, if you give this up, you will be sorry.
California and Colorado are already vying for best weed in the world, but Holland is still number one, IMO.
It would be a shame if they make this stupid decision, putting the money in the hands of locals who will become black-market drug dealers, instead of keeping in the hands of locals, who own legitimate stores and pay taxes.