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Dutch plan to curb cannabis sales to foreigners delayed
Jan 4, 2010

THE HAGUE (AFP) – A plan to transform cannabis-vending coffee shops near the Belgian border into private clubs from January 1 has been postponed indefinitely for further study, a Dutch official said Monday.

"We need to finalise our preparations before we can put the project into operation," Petro Hermans, a project officer for the southeastern city of Maastricht, told AFP.

"We are studying the legal feasibility of the project," he said, adding the date of January 1 "was not practicable".

The mayors of Maastricht and seven other municipalities in the southern Limburg province announced last May that about 30 coffee shops within their borders would become private members' clubs from this year.

The daily limit would be reduced from five to three grammes of cannabis per client, while 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 a new policy that will aim to reduce the "nuisance" caused by drug tourism.

About four million foreigners, mainly Belgian, French and German, visit Limburg every year to purchase cannabis. The Dutch government decriminalised the consumption and possession of under five grammes of cannabis in 1976.

There are some 700 licensed coffee shops throughout the country, but cannabis cultivation remains illegal.

Hermans said a report of university experts on the feasibility of the pilot project would be delivered to the mayors of the eight municipalities by mid-January.

"We will then decide how to proceed," he said, stressing that the mayors were "eager" to get the ball rolling.

Source

EDIT: Changed date to correct year.

Is there a link between the title and cafes becoming members clubs, or has the title been chosen to illicit knee-jerk reaction?

please show me the "nuisance" caused.
there is only one city which I have seen troublesome people, that is Venlo, and that is only because the shops dont care for the city, they only want to make money, the quality sucks ass (you`d better buy on the streets than in venlos tourist-shops like Oase,Huzur...)
but who cares, as long as there is a politician saying so, it must be true, right?

I hope they don't try this in Amsterdam ever.

doobydave wrote:Is there a link between the title and cafes becoming members clubs, or has the title been chosen to illicit knee-jerk reaction?

For what its worth, as it stands - thats possibly the reaction that they wanted, after all selling 100,000 more copies gets 100,000 more monies in the coffers..... but on this occasion it may have another explanation (or more likely a bit of both is in the editors head)

Its more the text doesn't really go in-depth enough (it is AFP - i.e. a wire piece..... so the 'idea' is to break it so that journalists can research the story before presenting to the mass.... but in this day and age of first to broadcast they rarely add the background - anyhow)

The extra background in a compressed version is that boarder towns of The Netherlands have been getting a lot of pressure from their over the boarder neighbours to curb the flow - Since the Schengen Agreement in the EU /EEA was passed leading to the 'removal' of the boarder checks at the countries boundaries, the moving of [in this specific issue] cannabis has become significantly less risky for those that do it.

In order to keep the neighbours happy the boarder towns came up with the plan above which in theory would work to resolve the issue.

The legal issue that follows is that the Dutch law (as I understand it) that 'decriminalises' the possession and selling of it makes no inference that the purchaser must be a Dutch national, just on Dutch soil.
Also what if a Dutch national doesn't have a debit card and wants / has to pay cash - does that then discriminate him? is that in itself against Dutch law...
There are more what if's as well, but those two are the first into my head

So regrettably in this case the 'sensational' headline and the text do marry up - its just a shame that what was published missed out a big chunk of the background.
--

On comment to the article - I'm impressed that spokesperson used the word indefinite to describe the timeframe - of course as things change so can the policy, but it would seem by that alone the Dutch are saying that its dropped - subject to the status quo being maintained.

Bullshit, they drop us lot spending money in coffee shops, I promise there gross profit from tourists will drop like a lead baloon..

It wont happen

I am surprised people in the border towns in germany/belgium etc havent played the discrimination card yet?.

Kingdoc wrote:I am surprised people in the border towns in germany/belgium etc havent played the discrimination card yet?.

maybe thats the last instance they keep as joker or something

BARBIE wrote:Bullshit, they drop us lot spending money in coffee shops, I promise there gross profit from tourists will drop like a lead baloon..

It wont happen

The Dutch government cares much more about keeping healthy relations with neighboring and very important trading partners than the profits from drug tourists.

not to be too much of a nitpicker there.... but you have the wrong year on the date.... unless the article is from LAST january


hippy

hippy_man99 wrote:not to be too much of a nitpicker there.... but you have the wrong year on the date.... unless the article is from LAST january
hippy

Nice catch, hippyman! I guess I just havent adjusted to it being 2010 yet.

Kacey420 wrote:

BARBIE wrote:Bullshit, they drop us lot spending money in coffee shops, I promise there gross profit from tourists will drop like a lead baloon..

It wont happen

The Dutch government cares much more about keeping healthy relations with neighboring and very important trading partners than the profits from drug tourists.

So people stay on the buss & trein an extra couple of stops? big deal they will still get there smoke,I wish i could go down to newcastle or somewhere like that & buy like an oz worth of deals from different shops.

So glad government delayed that plan! It was a nightmare to see such an heavy step in the direction of dutch prohibitionism's return.
Btw if this step will be done in future I'm sure thousands of stoners all over the world will come to netherlads to fight for hemp freedom!

mrdcotor wrote:So glad government delayed that plan! It was a nightmare to see such an heavy step in the direction of dutch prohibitionism's return.
Btw if this step will be done in future I'm sure thousands of stoners all over the world will come to netherlads to fight for hemp freedom!

I am sure milehigh denver will have a march organised for sure ,I would go to it! even if i could only be in town for a day.

buy 5 grams per person in cash. I would never neve never pay for weed with a credit card. Cash only.... I am rolling through to get to Amsterdam for my birthday and one of my childhood buddies from the USA is bringing 2 friends to celebrate my birthday. On our euro road trip from France where I live Maastrich seems like a great place to stop for dinner and a spliff....It is such a nice city too. I spent 4 days holiday there once and would love to show it to my friends. Lets hope its open on the 8th of February.