The right wing coalition of the Dutch gov announced Saturday that it would ban tourists from patronizing "coffee shops". The failed drug war continues to be replicated by morons and fascists worldwide

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Cannabis cafes set to become private clubs, no entry for tourists

Saturday 28 May 2011

The cabinet is pressing ahead with plans to turn all cafes selling small amounts of cannabis into members’ only clubs, accessible only to people officially living in the Netherlands.

Ministers say turning the so-called coffee shops into private clubs will reduce drugs-related tourism and public nuisance.

Soft drug users will be able to get a membership card if they are aged 18 and over, are Dutch or can prove they live legally in the Netherlands. Café’s will have a maximum amount of members, put at between 1,000 and 1,500 in some media reports.

Coffee shops must also be at least 350 walk metres from secondary schools.

Street dealers

Ministers say they expect the closure of coffee shops to tourists will lead to a reduction in drugs-related tourism. Nevertheless, ‘adequate measures’ will be taken by police and officials to make sure the move does not lead to an increase in street dealing.

Amsterdam city council continues to oppose the introduction of the membership card. ’We are concerned about the problems that will arise from large-scale street dealing,’ said a spokesman for Eberhard van der Laan.

‘There are also health concerns, because with street dealing we cannot monitor the quality of the soft drugs or the age of the buyers,’ he said.

Organised crime

The government is also planning to increase efforts to drive organised crime out of the production and trade of marijuana and to seize the assets of convicted drugs criminals.

The illegal growing industry is thought to be worth some €2bn a year. According to the Telegraaf, some 40,000 people are involved in marijuana cultivation and some 5,000 plantations are busted every year.

The crack-down on coffee shops follows the recommendations of a government commission in 2009 which said jashish and marijuana contain far more active ingredients than they did when the policy of turning a blind eye to their use was introduced in the 1970s.

At the same time, the bigger the coffee shops get, the more likely they are to be in the hands of organised crime. To that end, the commission recommended cafes become smaller and should only sell to locals.

Maastricht

Maastricht has already closed its coffee shops to tourists because of the nuisance while the border towns of Roosendaal and Bergen op Zoom have got rid of coffee shops altogether.

The concept of coffee shops was introduced in the 1970s to separate hard and soft drugs. The country’s 500 or so coffee shops are permitted to stock up to 500 grams of soft drugs while users can have up to five grammes for personal use.

Europe

Last July, a senior European legal official said the Netherlands was within its rights to ban tourists from coffee shops.

Advocate general Yves Bot said he considers the move necessary to protect public order and reduce the nuisance caused by drugs tourism. In addition, the ban would contribute to European efforts to combat the illegal drugs trade, Bot said.

The Netherlands highest court, the Council of State, has asked the European court to determine if the Maastricht ban conflicts with EU laws.

The Dutch court is currently hearing an appeal by a local cafe owner who was forced to close in 2006 after two non-Dutch nationals were found on his premises.

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DuNeRaVeR said:

ah BS!!!!! they suck.

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koraks said:

The actual reason for this legislation is to reduce the vast amount of drug trafficking that now takes place at the borders of The Netherlands. Belgian, German and French 'tourists' are queuing all day, every day at the coffee shops in border towns. While this causes some discomfort to people living near coffee shops, the major issue is that of the 'drug runners': mostly young brats of North-African descent who haphazardly cruise down stretches of highway, forcing foreign cars off the road in order to intimidate the drivers to buy their drugs. Remarkably, the Dutch government appears to believe that by making it more difficult for foreigners to buy their cannabis products from the semi-legal coffee shops, the trouble caused by these 'drugs runners' should be reduced. While in fact, the opposite is likely to happen: a drastic increase in illegal drug trade.

An acknowledged drawback to the current plan is that the tourism in Amsterdam and other major Dutch cities could decline somewhat. As I understand, that argument is largely ignored by politicians, as are the possibilities that tourists will still seek out their chemical pleasures, albeit through less visible (or at least, less legal) channels (or canals).

Note btw that this legislations is not yet effective, and possibly never will be. The Senate will deal with the proposal from the government later this year, and it is possible that they will reject it.

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pwnasaurus said:

and they're going to lose a TON of money from tourists.

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gerryjarcia said:

The right wing coalition of the Dutch gov announced Saturday that it would ban tourists from patronizing "coffee shops". The failed drug war continues to be replicated by morons and fascists worldwide

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Prisoner#1 said:

are they denying dutch citizens the ability to go to these coffee shops and smoke a little weed?

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Mad_Larkin said:

I've heard that they must serve people from EU countries since EU law says that shops cannot refuse to serve people who possess passports from EU countries...

As for people from outside Europe...

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koraks said:

Prisoner#1 said:

are they denying dutch citizens the ability to go to these coffee shops and smoke a little weed?

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No, they're not. As long as you're registered with that specific coffee shop, you can still go in, buy weed and smoke it.

It's very much like the Green Card system you got in the US. Although at least there's no bullshitting about the pot being 'medical'.

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Beanhead said:

Mad_Larkin said:

I've heard that they must serve people from EU countries since EU law says that shops cannot refuse to serve people who possess passports from EU countries...

As for people from outside Europe...

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Yeah but I also think EU law forbids distribution of weed. The "gedoogbeleid" doesn't make much sense

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Prisoner#1 said:

strange, we have private clubs here in the US, I can walk into one of
several, get a membership and drink all night, long after the other bars have
closed, doesnt seem to be much of a problem and no one is really bitching
about them... at least no one here in the US, I wonder if the dutch bitch
about the private clubs in the US

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Mad_Larkin said:

I've heard that they must serve people from EU countries since EU law says that shops cannot refuse to serve people who possess passports from EU countries...

As for people from outside Europe...

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Jimtown said:

No,I know someone who tried to go in to a coffee shop in some town a while back,possibly Maastricht,I can't remember but they wouldn't allow him in as he didn't have a Dutch passport.

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I'd guess that if you speak Dutch and walk the walk you'll probably have no problems.

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koraks said:

Jimtown said:

No,I know someone who tried to go in to a coffee shop in some town a while back,possibly Maastricht,I can't remember but they wouldn't allow him in as he didn't have a Dutch passport.

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Due to the problems near the borders, coffee shops in some cities are already barring foreigners, and some shops have even been closed altogether. This is the result of local measures that are largely unrelated to the legislation on a national level that is discussed in the OP.

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I'd guess that if you speak Dutch and walk the walk you'll probably have no problems.

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Depends. Some of the coffee shops in my town ask for ID regardless of who you are. I haven't seen many foreigners around those shops lately.

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I remember there being a lot of hot water over some shop near the border having way too much weed on the premises,something like 50/500kg or something.

It's not like Holland is the be all and end all of weed in Europe,there's lovely weed/hash to be found all over Europe. All that Moroccan flooding up through Portugal/Spain etc.

Prague is upcoming too and is starting to become known for it. Not the same feel there yet though,not for a while either I'd say.

koraks said:

2. The whole concept of registration doesn't go very well with many Europeans, and specifically the Dutch.

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