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No more drug tourism for Amsterdam.
Amsterdam has long been viewed by the Western world as a haven of tolerance and liberality: Prostitution is legal, “soft” drugs like marijuana are sold in shops, and everyone rides bikes, a sure sign of left-leaning tendencies. But at least one of those may be curbed in the coming year: European Union judges ruled that Dutch authorities’ ban on non-Dutch residents buying marijuana and hashhish in the country’s famous “coffee shops” does not violate European laws.
The policy, already in place in Dutch border towns, is aimed at curbing drug tourists from nearby Belgium and Germany who, The Wall Street Journal reported, “have a reputation for rowdiness, creating havoc on the roads and in the city’s narrow medieval lanes.” Dutch conservatives have long chafed under the country’s liberal drugs legislation – attempts to peel back the liberal drugs laws are made every couple of years – but haven’t always had the political clout to do anything about it. This ban is the work of the new conservative Dutch government, a coalition of centre-right liberals and Christian democrats, who want to turn the nation’s 670 coffee shops into “members only” clubs. Adult Dutch residents would be issued a “grass pass”, an electronic ID card that will also ensure that no one buys more than their allotted five grams of marijuana per person per day.
So, is the Dutch government about to kill off Amsterdam’s tourism industry? And will this even be practicable?
Coffee shop owners are, of course, against the ban, as is the city of Amsterdam. Amsterdam’s Social Democrat mayor Eberland van der Laan told Monsters and Critics that the ban represents a step backward from a tolerant society and that the coffee shops make it easier to regulate the sale and consumption of drugs – without the coffee shops, drug dealers would roam the streets and harass people. Van der Laan also said that a quarter of Amsterdam’s visitors check out the coffee shops; though he says they don’t come for the coffee shops alone, van der Laan must be a bit antsy about the loss of the drug tourist dollar.
NewsHawk: MedicalNeed: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: periscopepost.com
Author: Periscope
Contact: The Periscope Post
Copyright: 2010 periscopepost.com
Website:Dutch to ban drugs for tourists | The Periscope Post
Amsterdam has long been viewed by the Western world as a haven of tolerance and liberality: Prostitution is legal, “soft” drugs like marijuana are sold in shops, and everyone rides bikes, a sure sign of left-leaning tendencies. But at least one of those may be curbed in the coming year: European Union judges ruled that Dutch authorities’ ban on non-Dutch residents buying marijuana and hashhish in the country’s famous “coffee shops” does not violate European laws.
The policy, already in place in Dutch border towns, is aimed at curbing drug tourists from nearby Belgium and Germany who, The Wall Street Journal reported, “have a reputation for rowdiness, creating havoc on the roads and in the city’s narrow medieval lanes.” Dutch conservatives have long chafed under the country’s liberal drugs legislation – attempts to peel back the liberal drugs laws are made every couple of years – but haven’t always had the political clout to do anything about it. This ban is the work of the new conservative Dutch government, a coalition of centre-right liberals and Christian democrats, who want to turn the nation’s 670 coffee shops into “members only” clubs. Adult Dutch residents would be issued a “grass pass”, an electronic ID card that will also ensure that no one buys more than their allotted five grams of marijuana per person per day.
So, is the Dutch government about to kill off Amsterdam’s tourism industry? And will this even be practicable?
Coffee shop owners are, of course, against the ban, as is the city of Amsterdam. Amsterdam’s Social Democrat mayor Eberland van der Laan told Monsters and Critics that the ban represents a step backward from a tolerant society and that the coffee shops make it easier to regulate the sale and consumption of drugs – without the coffee shops, drug dealers would roam the streets and harass people. Van der Laan also said that a quarter of Amsterdam’s visitors check out the coffee shops; though he says they don’t come for the coffee shops alone, van der Laan must be a bit antsy about the loss of the drug tourist dollar.
NewsHawk: MedicalNeed: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: periscopepost.com
Author: Periscope
Contact: The Periscope Post
Copyright: 2010 periscopepost.com
Website:Dutch to ban drugs for tourists | The Periscope Post