Amsterdam Coffeeshop Directory Forums

Troubles with magic mushroom ban
04/12/2008

Amsterdam Mayor Job Cohen refuses to implement the measure due to difficulties.

AMSTERDAM - Dutch ministers are divided over the ban on magic mushrooms which began Monday. Amsterdam Mayor Job Cohen is refusing to implement the measure in the capital because of the difficulties involved.

One issue is the difficulty distinguishing between hallucinogenic varieties and ordinary edible mushrooms.

Christian Democrat Health Minister Ab Klink says he is relying on the police to enforce the law.

However, Interior Minister Guusje ter Horst, a member of the Labour Party, says she understands Mr Cohen's point of view.

Source

Confusion on magic mushroom ban
04 December 2008

The cabinet wants to discuss how to enforce the ban on the sale of fresh hallucinogenic mushrooms as soon as possible, says Thursday's Volkskrant.

Labour home affairs ministers Guusje ter Horst and her Christian Democrat colleagues health minister Ab Klink and justice minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin will discuss how to uphold the law which came into effect on December 1.

Several local mayors, including Job Cohen of Amsterdam, have complained that it is not at all clear how they are to police the ban, says the paper.

Hirsch Ballin says enforcing the ban does not come under the government's food safety authority because magic mushrooms fall under the opium law. Both he and Klink say the police should enforce the ban, but Ter Horst disagrees, says the paper.

Labour MP Lea Bouwmeester accuses Klink of sending councils a letter saying the mushrooms are now banned, enforce it and good luck. 'That's ridiculous', she told the paper.

Fresh mushrooms were banned after a number of incidents involving foreign tourists. The sale of dried mushrooms was already illegal.

Source