Amsterdam Coffeeshop Directory Forums

More pressure on cannabis coffee shops
10 November 2008

The policy of tolerating the sale of of cannabis in the Netherlands came under further pressure on Sunday when the leader of the Christian Democrats in parliament called for an outright ban on the cafés were marijuana is sold.

Pieter van Geel said the practice of allowing so-called coffee shops to operate has failed, adding that he sensed a change in the attitude of other political parties. "Let us use this new momentum. Society demands it," Van Geel said on Sunday. '[Let us move] on to zero tolerance.”

The CDA has the support of its smaller coalition partner, the orthodox Christian party ChristenUnie, but the third party in government, Labour, is opposed. The coalition agreement worked out by the three parties last year stated that there will be no change in the current policy of tolerance.

Van Geel’s call comes just weeks after two border towns said they planned to shut down all the coffee shops within their boundaries because of the nuisance caused by tens of thousands of drugs tourists from Belgium, France and Germany.

But Labour suspects that the CDA does not want to tackle the problems caused by drugs tourism properly, so it can call for a complete ban on the sale of soft drugs. "I suspect the CDA wants to let things get out of control deliberately," Labour member of parliament Lea Bouwmeester said. The problems caused by soft drugs will not disappear if all coffee shops are closed down, she added.

Van Geel's comments are not supported by his entire party. Prominent CDA members Gerd Leers, the mayor of Maastricht on the Dutch-Belgian-German border, has spoken out against him. Leers said that cannabis users who now cause no trouble will be viewed as criminals if an outright ban is implemented.

Van Geel said later said that he respected the coalition agreement and will not press for a ban during this government's tenure, which should last until 2011.

Source

Ya can never find some lions when ya need them.

lmao dave

it brings the dutch governement far too many millions to stop the coffee shops.

But it is a fact the dutch cities near the belgian border attract loads of scummy belgians and french wanabe 'rudebois' going there to buy canabis from private dealers.

Them cities you can easily get mugged, you constantly have dealers following you out of your foreign car or the station, and the cops dont do fuck all to them.

Bust the street dealers they are the problems,...

Americans voted Obama in perhaps it's time for the Dutch to vote Geel out.

As a Christian myself, I have issues with "Zero Tolerance". In fact zero tolerance is the exact opposite of what a Christian should be. Here in the states Fundamentalist Christians voice disdain and outright hate for gays, Muslims (the Republicans/McCain actually campaigned on this), Atheist, Jews, liberals, The Constitution, Democracy and anyone or anything that is not in line with their totalitarian point of view.

Jesus = zero tolerance? I think not. By example, He choose love and tolerance even to those most looked down upon in society.
Jesus = compassion. He was the type to tear down walls not build them.

sonicblue wrote:
Jesus = zero tolerance? I think not. By example, He choose love and tolerance even to those most looked down upon in society.
Jesus = compassion. He was the type to tear down walls not build them.

Off topic completely.

But im writing a paper on the nature of Jesus portrayed in the Gospel and the nature of Jesus in reality at this very moment. I dont think that Jesus was a compassionate character and the council of Narcia, was the starting point of the Gospels being chosen to portray this view of Jesus. Other Gospels not included, possibly because they do not fit in with the synoptic Gospel values and viewpoints, such as the Gospel of Thomas paint a very different picture of J.C. Pagan, Jewish and Roman sources, although obvious open to bias by the author, seem to support the claim that Jesus was not a compassionate character. This could be possibly due to the nature required of an person who wanted to created social reform in a society governed by the philosophy of Ancient Greece and Hebrew thoughts.

Sorry for the shameless hijacking of this thread. But fancied a rant.

On subject, i do believe its a matter of time before the scene in amsterdam ends. However it seems america is taking a leading role in the issue of cannabis decriminalization and subject to individual decisions by states will be the new home of the coffeeshop scene.

sonicblue wrote:Americans voted Obama in perhaps it's time for the Dutch to vote Geel out.

As a Christian myself, I have issues with "Zero Tolerance". In fact zero tolerance is the exact opposite of what a Christian should be. Here in the states Fundamentalist Christians voice disdain and outright hate for gays, Muslims (the Republicans/McCain actually campaigned on this), Atheist, Jews, liberals, The Constitution, Democracy and anyone or anything that is not in line with their totalitarian point of view.

Jesus = zero tolerance? I think not. By example, He choose love and tolerance even to those most looked down upon in society.
Jesus = compassion. He was the type to tear down walls not build them.

i am not christian and i cant remember where i heard this, but in regards to drug use and arrest etc., the question was asked if jesus came upon drug users, would he build them schools and hospitals, or prisons, WWJD??

NirvanaEJ wrote: i am not christian and i cant remember where i heard this, but in regards to drug use and arrest etc., the question was asked if jesus came upon drug users, would he build them schools and hospitals, or prisons, WWJD??

I like this alot.

beejun wrote:Bust the street dealers they are the problems,...

in some way they are. but the only fact that makes it possible for them to rip people off is that the other states around the netherlands dont have a soft-drug-tolerance....end of discussion!

people that exploit for all the wrong reasons, this hurts us all. it seems the media only prints these stories. not the mirical ones like mine. cannabis has changed my life, no more daily pills!!!!!!!!!!! for the life of me im not able to figure out why they dont utalizi this medicine.

that would be mad ghey if they banned weed in amsterdam...