Amsterdam Coffeeshop Directory Forums

dconstrukt wrote:Dear Grey Area Fans,

We promised to keep you updated about the Weed Pass, so here we go again....

Today's newly formed Dutch Government has decided the Following about the weed pass and soft drugs:
The Weed Pass itself has been abandoned, but access to coffeeshops remains reserved to Dutch residents with an identity card or residence permit along with an excerpt from the population register. The enforcement of these criteria shall be done in consultation with municipalities concerned and, if necessary, phased in, taking the local coffee shop-and security policies into account so there is local customization.
We will combat drug tourism and organized drug crime with force. Drugs-runners and illegal street drugs will be dealt with firmly. The level of active substances in soft drugs will be bound to a maximum.
Officially that basically means that nothing has changed and just the word 'Weed Pass' has been removed.

But unofficially I think it means that they will use the non-dutch clause in the southern provinces to try to lessen the constant stream of drugs tourists and that nothing will change in the big cities like Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, Utrecht and some northern bigger cites.

I base this on an interview with the Mayor of Amsterdam last week, who couldn't be the least bit concerned about the weed pass anymore. He's made abundantly clear that Amsterdam doesn't want the weedpass and sees no use for it. Amsterdam is completely happy with the way it has been going for the past 30 years and welcomes all tourists to their Hotels, Museums and.... Coffeeshops.

In other words.... as I've always said, the chance that Amsterdam will enforce these new coffeeshop criteria is i.m.h.o. very slim to none!

There will be a maximum set for active substances in weed, but there's no details whatsoever about how they plan to do that and when that should go into effect, so also that plan still seems miles away.

When new information on these subjects comes in, we will update you as usual!

So no more cancelations of trips now please! It's business as usual and nothing has changed! Until further notice everybody is still very welcome after January 1st 2013!

Hope to see you in Amsterdam soon!

Your loyal Grey Area Team

dconstrukt wrote:But unofficially I think it means that they will use the non-dutch clause in the southern provinces to try to lessen the constant stream of drugs tourists and that nothing will change in the big cities like Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, Utrecht and some northern bigger cites.

I base this on an interview with the Mayor of Amsterdam last week, who couldn't be the least bit concerned about the weed pass anymore. He's made abundantly clear that Amsterdam doesn't want the weedpass and sees no use for it. Amsterdam is completely happy with the way it has been going for the past 30 years and welcomes all tourists to their Hotels, Museums and.... Coffeeshops.

In other words.... as I've always said, the chance that Amsterdam will enforce these new coffeeshop criteria is i.m.h.o. very slim to none!

la2019 wrote:This is as official a victory as we'll ever get! But make no mistake - we win! In politics, no one ever really concedes a loss over legislation (not counting actual elections, of course), but instead make compromises. The non-residency thing is a non-starter; it gives cities that need and/or want to restrict tourists the legal foundation to do so (although it might be illegal by EU standards), while letting places like Amsterdam conduct business as usual because doing anything else is just crazy!

Of course, these are just my opinions, could be wrong and all that. But I really feel like this is the moment we've been waiting for (well, those of us that sweated this at all, at any rate).

If I owned a shop, I'd name a strain on my menu "Weitpass" now that it's officially dead, both for the irony and the subtle reminder.