Dutch U-turn on soft drugs tolerance

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Dutch U-turn on soft drugs tolerance

13 September 2009

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.
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http://extras.geelongadvertiser.com.au/rss_article.php?news_id=30898141
 
It's not going to make any difference. Drugs are not going away. If drugs are illegal you will have an uncontrolled illegal blackmarket. When drugs are legal you have legal controlled commerce. There is certainly very little crime associated with a legal substance like tobacco.
 
They are being pretty shortsighted with this. I guarantee its 2 years tops before they realise what they have done to their tourism industry and start allowing tourists to smoke again.
 
"There are only two things I can't stand in this world: People who are intollerant of other peoples' cultures, and the dutch."
-Nigel Powers
 
Faced with the dilemma of criminal control over cannabis cultivation and the "nuisance'' created by millions of drug tourists a year
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Thats so fucked up, that they would call tourists a "nuisance"....

These are people that travel to their country and spend money there, and help boost their economy. They are an integral part of the success of the country and its citizens. And this "drug tourist" terminology is bullshit, there's no such thing as a "drug tourist." When you go to another country, you like to sample the local delicacies, and in Holland that just happens to be cannabis-- that's just straight-up tourism not "drug tourism."
 
"It's not going to make any difference. Drugs are not going away. If drugs are illegal you will have an uncontrolled illegal blackmarket. When drugs are legal you have legal controlled commerce. There is certainly very little crime associated with a legal substance like tobacco. "

Wrong as usually Huaca, have family in the red mob, untaxed cigarettes is such a huge enterprise all over the world. You being a "lib"erterorian you'll probably say well if there were no taxes what I said would be true. Anyhow I can understand why you'd make the presumption, but it's wrong. billions man, going into the pockets of the most rutheless murders you can't imagine.
 
I can see both sides of the track as a good decision but the Dutch will regret this. this seems like a plan just to get rid of the amount of shops

the ones that remain public will exprience dramatic increase in revenue, while Many private will be forced to c
forclose
 
Roger&Me said:
Thats so fucked up, that they would call tourists a "nuisance"....

These are people that travel to their country and spend money there, and help boost their economy. They are an integral part of the success of the country and its citizens. And this "drug tourist" terminology is bullshit, there's no such thing as a "drug tourist." When you go to another country, you like to sample the local delicacies, and in Holland that just happens to be cannabis-- that's just straight-up tourism not "drug tourism."
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i dunno, in a similar context i'm not sure i'd consider visiting belgium just to get sauced on leffe "tourism." then again, the inside of a coffeeshop is probably a lot more entertaining than any of the other sights amsterdam has to offer.

i'm sure if i lived in a tiny country bursting at the seams with potheaded americans, i'd be kind of pissed too. it's not like the dutch NEED our money to stay affluent.
 
Bob Loblaw said:
Maybe they just want more citizens =D.
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haha funny, but not true
they did that in the 70's too, being a garbage man and other jobs of that nature were beneath the dutch, so they let in a bunch of turkish and Moroccan, immigrants to do all their shit work ~ after about a decade the late 80's -early 90's , the dutchies were bitching about the turks and moroccans collecting all the benefits of being dutch ect ....

my father married a dutch chick, i got two dutch brother , my fathers a citizen ,
when i went for my verbliefenschuning (green card ) so i could work legally over there, the lady at the town hall told me to go back to the USSA and get a life , i was like i want to be with my family ,
she pretty much said
the only way i could be a dutch citizen is if i married a dutch gal, or was rich .
fuck em :p and their coffee shops


and skoat i think last year they started making the red light district in a'dam a lot smaller
 
Roger&Me said:
And this "drug tourist" terminology is bullshit, there's no such thing as a "drug tourist." When you go to another country, you like to sample the local delicacies, and in Holland that just happens to be cannabis-- that's just straight-up tourism not "drug tourism."
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Hmm, when that specific delicacie you're coming over for is a drug, one can apply the term drug tourist, why not?

Especially in the border area those tourist are causing some nuisance and they have no other touristic intend that scoring some dope. Somehow you got to understand they are trying to tackle the problem, 'cause many of those so called drugtourist are a real pain in the ass. As always the measurements that have been taken do not solve the root of the problem, it's just a way to get rid of the symptoms.

Still if you travel to France to buy some exclusive wine, you're also a drug tourist, but no one cares... I guess, that's because alcohol can actually kill you.;)

Why would anyone consider visiting a country like Holland? The scenery is not very spectacular, it's mainly flat and a significant part has been created artificially, they can't cook (the food is really disgusting over there) and most parties are closed down at 3 AM... In general they got a total lack of style, just look at dj Tiesto and you know what I mean ;-)

Ok, Amsterdam is a beautifull city and there's alot to see there (apart from coffeeshops), but knowing that as a foreigner you're no longer allowed to buy some pot, I would never consider going there again.
 
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back before the euro, gas was cheaper in germany, you would see huge lines of cars at all the gas stations near the border with pretty much all dutch license plates


seems pretty hypocritical
 
Wave Jumper said:
Why would anyone consider visiting a country like Holland? The scenery is not very spectacular, it's mainly flat and a significant part has been created artificially,

.
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yea and once you leave the cities the whole country smells like cow and pig shit
 
deaf eye said:
yea and once you leave the cities the whole country smells like cow and pig shit
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Yeah, seems like you've been around =D

Seriously: if you wanna see the beauty of nature, you should aim for some other country. On the other hand I do appreciate Vermeer, Rembrandt van Rijn or H. Bosch to name a few, but luckily you don't necessarily need to visit their country to enjoy their works.

And another thing: for me weed is too precious to be smoked in some border coffeeshop packed with wanna-be-criminals...in such an atmosphere it's simply not fun to get high. Still, I'm sure there are some cosy shops in Amsterdam and other big cities...
 
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