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Subscribe to RSSThe Dutch government has ruled that the country's coffee shops may not sell marijuana to tourists and instead only provide it to residents carrying passes. Msnbc.com's Al Stirrett reports.
This country of canals and tulips is also famous for "coffee shops" where joints and cappuccinos share the menu. Now, the Netherlands' famed tolerance for drugs could be going up in smoke.
A judge on Friday upheld a government plan to ban foreign tourists from buying marijuana by introducing a "weed pass" available only to Dutch citizens and permanent residents.
The new regulation reins in one of the country's most cherished symbols of tolerance — its laissez-faire attitude toward soft drugs — and reflects the drift away from a long-held view of the Netherlands as a free-wheeling utopia.
For many tourists visiting Amsterdam the image endures, and smoking a joint in a canal-side coffee shop ranks high on their to-do lists, along with visiting cultural highlights such as the Van Gogh Museum and Anne Frank House.
Worried that tourism will take a hit, the city's mayor, Eberhard van der Laan, is hoping to hammer out a compromise with the national government, which relies on municipalities and local police to enforce its drug policies.
Relaxing outside The Bulldog, a coffee shop in downtown Amsterdam, Gavin Harrison and Ian Leigh of Northern Ireland said they hoped the city wouldn't change.
"I think it's going to be a shame for Amsterdam, I think it's going to lose a lot of tourists," Harrison said.
Leigh said he had been visiting Amsterdam for a decade and had noticed the erosion of tolerance over the years. "It's taking a step back," he said.
Weed fairy and others celebrate cannabis and protest for legalization
Coffee shop owners have not given up the fight. A week ago they mustered a few hundred patrons for a "smoke-out" in downtown Amsterdam to protest the new restrictions.
A lawyer for the owners, Maurice Veldman, said he would file an appeal against the ruling by The Hague District court, which clears the way for the weed pass to be introduced in southern provinces on Tuesday.
If the government gets its way, the pass will roll out in the rest of the country — including Amsterdam — next year. It will turn coffee shops into private clubs with membership open only to Dutch residents and limited to 2,000 per shop.
The Netherlands has more than 650 coffee shops, 214 of them in Amsterdam. The number has been steadily declining as municipalities imposed tougher regulations, such as shuttering ones close to schools.
Stringer / Reuters
An employee of coffeeshop "Easy Going" weighs weed in Maastricht April 27, 2012.
But the new membership rules are the most significant rollback in years to the traditional Dutch tolerance of marijuana use.
The government argues that the move is justified to crack down on so-called "drug tourists," effectively couriers who drive over the border from neighboring Belgium and Germany to buy large amounts of marijuana and take it home to resell. They cause traffic and public order problems in towns along the Dutch border.
Such issues do not exist in Amsterdam, where most tourists walk or ride bikes and buy pot for their own consumption.
The weed pass "doesn't solve any problems we have here and it could create new problems," said city spokeswoman Tahira Limon.
Many Amsterdam residents agree.
Barring tourists from coffee shops will only drive them into the hands of street dealers, warned Liza Roodhof, unwinding with a friend at an Amsterdam cafe that caters to artsy types.
"If you make it so that tourists can't buy weed in a coffee shop, then they're going to buy it on the street. So you add more problems than you solve," she said.
Her friend Nina Fokker, an actress, also worried about what the ban portends for the Netherlands' image as an open-minded society.
Tolerance "is something beautiful, it has something special, it has something that's authentic about the Netherlands," she said.
It is not just hardcore pot heads taking a toke in the city. Limon said 4 million to 5 million tourists visit Amsterdam each year and around 23 percent say they visit a coffee shop during their stay.
Therese Ariaans of the Dutch tourism board said it was hard to judge the effect on tourism — it could reduce visits from people wanting to smoke pot but increase tourists previously kept away by Amsterdam's seedy side.
"If the result is that there will be fewer visitors to the Netherlands we would regret that," she said.
Amsterdam argues that the reasons coffee shops were first tolerated decades ago are still relevant today — they are well-regulated havens where people can buy soft drugs without coming into contact with dealers of hard drugs such as heroin and cocaine.
Coffee shops also are banned from serving alcohol and from selling drugs to people under 18.
The government in The Hague said Friday there would be no exceptions to the new rules.
"Amsterdam will also have to enforce this policy," said Job van de Sande, a spokesman for the Ministry of Security and Justice.
The conservative Dutch government introduced the new measures saying it wants to return the shops back to what they were originally intended to be: local shops selling to local people.
However the Dutch government collapsed this week and new elections are scheduled for September. It's unclear whether the new administration will keep the new measures in place.
Coffee shop lawyer Veldman called Friday's ruling a political judgment.
"The judge completely fails to answer the principal question: Can you discriminate against foreigners when there is no public order issue at stake?" he asked.
Coffee shop owners in the southern city of Maastricht have said they plan to disregard the new measure, forcing the government to prosecute them in a test case.
Back in Amsterdam, Leigh hoped the weed pass was a marketing stunt to drum up business.
"It's a recession," he said. "Maybe it's a publicity stunt as well — get people to come over in a mad rush before it happens."
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Leave a Comment:
As long as they don't ban prostitution to tourists it's alright. Cuz thats the only reason me and my secret service buddies go there.
Clearly you've never been there, few people would go for the prostitutes alone...
Window shopping definitely has a completely different meaning in Amsterdam than it does here.
I think they are making a huge mistake by changing their policies. This change is definitely going to have a negative impact on tourism and seriously hurt their economy.
All that this will do is create a group of middle men who will buy the pot for tourists, probably with a nice 'service fee' attached, and create a group of criminals where none currently exists. Seems that Amsterdam is following the United State's example of ass backwards law making to the detriment of their citizens.
The USA needs to pick up on this market. Our national debt would be paid off and we could pay off china with the money. PEOPLE CHOOSE TO SMOKE! F!ck what the cigarette and alcohol companies think! They are the reason USA hasnt made it legal! They pay off congress people!
If you've been in Amsterdam you know that about one in four businesses directly cater to pot-tourism. If they lose anywhere near 25% (and my bet is it may be higher) in tourism dollars the Dutch may lament for the days of mello tourists clogging the streets. The Dutch just aren't friendly people in my experience and I think this has as much to do with anti-tourist sentiments as it does anti-pot politics. They should be very careful what they wish for!
Off to Canada!
jsf
More people drink alcohol than smoke pot and alcohol is taxed. How come the debt hasn't been paid off from that revenue?
This is so lame.
Jsfoo:
Going to have to completely disagree.
Who do you think will be the first group of people to make marijuana cigs? The current US tobacco companies.
I heard a rumor once that Marlboro is just waiting on the day marijuana becomes legal so they can just flip a switch and their machines start rolling cannabis.
Check out WINDOWGIRL!
Nooooo, don't support them cartels in Canadia!!!
We already get better stuff here in California anyway.
Just creating a local middle man.
You come to the Netherlands, but cannot buy directly, so you need an in between. That inbetween is a Dutchman some extra commission needed of course,... :), problem solved!
I was in Amsterdam recently and spoke with many locals about his issue. Almost without exception they all said it would severely hurt the economy and business since so many foreigners come for the pot. I think it's clear that there's no compelling reason to visit the Netherlands without pot-tourism. Another country will step-up to take over the tens of millions of dollars pot-tourists spend and the Netherlands will lose out. It is ironic that just as the rest of the Western World is moving towards legalizing pot the Netherlands is now moving in the opposite direction. Long term it seems like a really bad move...
Methinks the Department of Tourism will have the last word.
So you don't want my tourist dollars, that's fine. I can go to any other European city that doesn't have legal weed.
This just in, Amsterdam- people aren't coming to visit for your madame toussaud wax museum. You'd better think very carefully before you kill this cash cow...
have to clarify-
didn't mean to be so dismissive. Amsterdam actually is a very nice place, even without the weed. Lots of great museums, restaurants, the countryside is beautiful...
but a lot of European cities are beautiful, that's my point-
their legality of weed is what sets them apart...
No need to apologize, you were right the first time. The Wax museum sucks as do many of the other museums. That's not to say there aren't some nice things to see but as you mention there are so many better places to go in Europe if you want to see that sort of thing. Also, the Dutch in general do not treat foreigners very nicely so it is not a good place to go for cultural reasons. No, they are planning to eliminate their single largest tourist attraction and they have very little to replace it with. No way I'm going to spend 4 Euros (about $6) on a Coke if I'm not in an altered state of mind! Things are really expensive in the Netherlands and along with pot prohibition they will decimate tourism.
I disagree. I was treated very well by the Dutch. But, I left my demanding a$shole American attitude at the door and RESPECTED the Dutch people and OBEYED their laws.
The first time I visited a coffeeshop in 2007, there were 2 New Yorkers buying weed at the same coffeshop I was in and they started telling me what I should buy and what not to buy. I was like "Look, a$$hole, I have been smoking weed since before you were born. I don't need your advice."
phucking Americans ruin it for everyone....
You seem like a very angry person...your physician can help with some Valium or Xanax, perhaps percoset or oxycodone are more to your liking??
What you were experiencing might have been just a couple of NEW YORKERS a bit out of their comfort zone...heck dude, not all Americans are from New York. (Even New Yorkers are pretty nice once you get them to open up a little.)
Now go get a doobie and mellow out! (And have a nice day!)
I happen to BE from New York.
What makes you think I am an angry person, just cuz I type a few capital letters?
The countryside and museums are better...on weed. ;)
Seriously though, they make billions of euros in tax dollars from the pot tourism already. It's technically illegal there, but no one enforces it.
I guess everyone is getting sick of potheads!
Not nearly as sick as they are of rednecks, Jimbo.
Darrel
Don't be so judgemental man. I am a redneck and if pot is legal I will smoke it. Probably even grow my own.
Jimbo
You aren't everybody.
Darrel- your thumbs up says it all, agreed!!!
Rednecks have the best weed ;) Trust me, it's true.
Just go to SE Ok. McCurtain county, they have some of the best in the world and an overload of rednecks that grow it. Just don't buy or smoke the "red" pot..it has been sprayed with red dye in the roundup!
Most Dutch people who support this do so not based on ethical beliefs concerning marijuana use, but rather on being fed up with the hordes of immature grunge-type tourists who invade Amsterdam every year simply to visit pot coffeehouses.
pretty much everything that's cool about this world eventually gets ruined by idiots...
You're just pulling this out of your ass, right?
I have been visiting Amsterdam since the 80's and I have never seen any of the rowdy street behavior this purports to remedy. I have seen Dutch teenagers acting like teenagers, but never stoners wrecking havoc.
As I've aged my preference for comfort has increased and I've stayed in better hotels and tend to eat in better retaurants. I do love the Riechsmuseum and the Van Gogh museum and just the Dutch atmosphere. But the real draw is the legal marijuana.
If the Dutch feel my tourist spending has become a burden on them, Fine! I'll go to Jamaica. It's a heck of a lot closer, it's warmer, it's exponentially cheaper, the food is better, and the pot is passable, just without the variety.
My plaintive prayer is that I be allowed to smoke a legal joint in my home in the U.S. before I die.
The Dutch people will still be a free thinking society but as always, not so much the government. The people will take this matter to hand because the are politically and socially active.
Yeah I wouldn't be too worried about all this just yet...they're not very tolerant of intolerance over there.
I don't understand it- if you want to stop mass transportation of weed across the border into Germany and Belgium, than do it.
Why then do you also have to keep me from buying weed in your country, smoking it, and going back to my country? I'm not a dealer or a mule- just wanna enjoy your hospitality, that's all...
If they want to stop people from Germany and Belgium from taking pot back with them they should enact a hand to mouth policy. If we put pot in your hand you, smoke it in the coffee house. You can't take it with you. That seems a lot simpler than destroying their tourist trade during already hard economic times.
Actually, Annoyed, that 'hand to mouth' policy was exactly how I thought it was.
Now,it's been twenty years since I've been to Amsterdam, but I recall being told "buy it...smoke it. Leave the building with it and you're breaking the law. Enjoy".
And enjoy I did. Awesome hashish.
Ah, those were the days.
They don't even need a hand to mouth policy to severely limit resale. Simply limit the amount one can buy per day, say an ounce. These policies on soft drugs are ineffective, expensive, & cause more harm than good. Give them the same or similar controls as alcohol, tax & legalize it already!
There already is a limit on purchases, 5 grams per purchase per person. To buy retail quantities this way, to sell. seems price prohibitive. They can't be buying commercial quantities in the ciffee shops
oops sorry potheads LOLLL
The truly SAD thing here is POT TOURISM. If you have to rely on what essentially amounts to DRUG DEALING to get tourists then you have more problems than just dope heads.
Issue #2 with this is why turn a blind eye to what amounts to drug addiction? If you say pot is not addictive, then WHY do people smoke it? And why would people spend hundreds of dollars or Euros to travel to the Netherlands to smoke dope?
The 3rd thing I find interesting about this is IF the Netherlands is making laws that benefit its own citizens, a "perk" if you will for your Dutch citizenship, why not be grateful that you now have some sort of "status benefit", as misguided as tolerating drug use is in the first place.
But here again, drug use isnt the enemy, the government is. The only problem with this line of thought is the fact THERE WOULDNT BE AN ISSUE if people weren't using drugs. I suppose it is hard to get that simple truth through to those that are smoked up, or don't want to hear anything other than "here is your free pass to use dope." And certainly, IF THAT ISN'T a tell tale sign of addiction, I don't know what is...
It is a drug but it's the people's choice to smoke it. Nobody forces them to go there and buy it, they choose to do it on their own. The government will stand to ruin their economy with this decision, and it's a drug to you but you don't live there so it doesn't matter to you what it's like, the government has no problem with their citizens using it, you're not from there so you wouldn't know what it's like.
Have you been there? I've been, a few times over the years. Amsterdam offers a lot of stuff besides the coffeeshops, but they do provide incentives to some visitors. Just like many adults here smoke cigs, drink a beer or glass of wine at night, when there it is common to sit a spell and burn one, to relax, just like us. Some people like yoga, some like booze, some like weed. Does it matter as long as you aren't hurting anyone?
The reason they are changing the laws seems very misguided. Drugs are always going to be used, no matter how many agents you put between the suppliers and users. What it does is create a huge criminal enterprise with high risk/reward scenarios for everyone involved. If the US has proven one thing over the years, it is that the drug war has failed, and we have created criminal enterprises where previously there were none. In the Netherlands, the growers will still grow, and the shops will still sell. But now they will have underground markets of criminals transporting and dealing the drugs. This will increase violence and cause many other negative effects.
When you walk downtown in the 'Dam, you feel great and pretty free as you can do what you want. But then you turn the corner and there will be street dealers hitting you up trying to sell you harder stuff like Heroin and Coke. Now those are the guys that tourists will be hitting up to get the weed. It will increase the danger to tourists, and lead to lots of crimes that were previously not occurring.
I believe in personal responsibility, and more gov't regulations start to reduce that. It's okay, I guess Vancouver will get a lot more tourists if this happens according to plan.
will- do you drink alcohol or coffee or smoke cigarettes?
What an ignorant and misinformed post. You want to see a lot of *REAL* drug addicts go crazy? Crack down on the illicit pill trade. Ban alcohol. Let's just ban everything and see who deals with their addictions the worst - I guarantee you, I promise you and I'd bet my life that it won't be those who enjoy consuming a plant in it's natural form.
you are right...rx drugs are the culprit along with alcohol.
Uh...I don't smoke pot....never have...never will...people go there as TOURISTS to see their culture and history and then also something they cant do here...go to a cafe...have a coffee and a 'brownie' or whatever...pretty sure people are not going there to get pot and start being a drug addict...if you want POT in the jersey, go to any street corner from newark, to dover, to camden, to whatever 'city' and you can get it... YOU get it and get a grip!!!
P.S. You are an idot!
Will, as someone already said here, do you consume sugar or salt? drink coffee? Eat meat? These are also drugs. If you don't believe me try cutting them out starting now!!! People can "use" whatever they please. It is a matter of preference. Let's agree to disagree and leave it at that.
@will the watcher - $hit I see money causing more problems then drugs ever will!!!!! Doesn't the justice department classifies a drug by what it does to your body, how it damages your family life, and others around you, and how it alters the mind. That being said, doesn't that put money and other currency in the same category? Money sure in the hell damages more lives than it helps, destroys more lives than it helps, alters the mind when a person gets paid, and also is the gate way drug to all other drugs for that you need money to buy drugs!!!!!!! So think again if the place your living in isn't the biggest drug dealer of them ALL, and yes I am talking about the United Police Bulling States of America!!!! Where we got so many laws, we might as well be wearing chains!!!
This ruling would not affect me. I don't frequent those joints anyway.
This will make Obama and his Liberal druggies stay home and support the Mexican Cartels.
That doesn't make even a little sense...liberals usually support the decriminalization of marijuana...something that would make the "Mexican Cartels" disappear overnight.
If it's not illegal, you can't have a black market for it.
Your statement makes you an idiot.
What an idiotic post. Never come onto this site again.
Seems like slippery-slope politics at work in the Netherlands. First you ban weed around schools and keep it away from minors (a prudent measure most people will agree on), then you ban foreigners from consuming it, then you take it away from your own citizens. Their weak arguments on trafficking and their ignoring the fact that most of the tourists that come to Amsterdam to smoke weed prove it. Why throw away potential tax revenue?
I think President Obama should apologize to the Netherlands for this!
Gee, how hard would it be for a local to buy weed and sell it to tourists for a big mark up? Sounds like another tourism tax if you ask me. It certainly won't slow down consumption but will create a great black market for local vendors.
This will be another source of income for the local police. Some policeman will just look the other way when a local buys weed and resales it to a tourist for a big market up.
Guess on my trip there I'll just settle for getting drunk and breaking sh1t.
Somebodies going to make alot of foreign money!!!!!
So, one set of laws for citizens and legal residents and another set for 'foreigners'.
Now there's a concept that's bound for trouble. How are they going to know if you're a tourist unless they ask everybody for identification everywhere they go?
Or maybe the police, the coffee shop purveyors can just 'tell' if you're foreign by your accent.
When Arizona tried something similar, they got whacked by Obama.
Now it's coming to pass in the Supreme Court that it's ok to ask for documentation if police believe they have an illegal alien on their hands.
But foreigner tourists are not illegals..........until they show up in Amsterdam and try to blend in with the locals. Then they are suspects.
In other news, tourism has become non-existent in the Netherlands...
hopefully an attempt to frein support to the anal u.s. and other govts. of the like; surely there is a plan in the works for the purchase of a "weed green card" for tourists. can't imagine they would want to lose all of that revenue.
Another b.s. example of the government going in nearly the opposite direction of the will of THE PEOPLE.
It's hard to imagine why, exactly, the government is so keen on this measure that seems to have so little support. Traffic and social issues in their border towns seem like a small price to pay for the economic activity, and by adding such burdensome blanket regulation, they're hurting an awful lot of their business that depend on foreign money.
And it's not like this will have a substantial effect on Dutch marijuana use, since it only applies to non-citizens.
The entire point of the law seems to be "we don't want other people's money".
"It will turn coffee shops into private clubs with membership open only to Dutch residents and limited to 2,000 per shop."
So they also want to tell their own citizens what shop they can frequent. Go out of town, too bad, you're a citizen but can't buy.
Doesn't affect me, but it's a stupid idea all around.
Just because something can bring a revenue doesn't mean it should be legal. Why not make the organ sale legal then? We all need a productive society to function; we need the low unemployment and good GDP growth. If we make everything that sells, legal, the society will fall apart.
There's a difference, most intelligent people know that a good reason doesn't exist for this particular drug to be illegal. So, we widely disregard the moronic law and the Kool-Aid club members that follow and support it.
what next then?! make alcohol and cigarettes illegal? not a chance, regardless of the harm factor, they sell.
Because selling body parts is exactly like selling pot. Okay, Skippy, thanks for your input.
Meh, don't live there don't care. Why would anyone go there just for the pot when you could go to pretty much any street corner in america & get the same stuff?
You obviously have not been there. You cannot find the "same stuff" on any street in the USA. Most of their pot is of high quality, which is hard to find in the US or very expensive if you do. They also have many forms of hash, which you can never find in the US. Most people don't know it, but you can also buy mushrooms in the local stores in Amsterdam, again, hard to find in the US.
I also feel this is an opportunity for the US. It is a huge tourism attraction that brings in millions of $$. The Dutch are going to miss out on huge money that they already have. It would also save tens of millions of dollars in the US for law enforcement and incarceration for pot related convictions, something I find a completely waste of money now.
Amsterdam is a beautiful city and has some of the nicest people I've ever been around. If you didn't know what was going on in the coffee shops, you could walk right by them and not even bat an eye. The red light district is a different story, but the coffee shops are very discrete.
@informed - The other difference is the States also will arrest you for having it here anyways, even if you do have a doctors recommendation... IF not jail, you still have fines!
Legalize it here and take their tourist dollars!