Canna-pass curbs coffee shop tourism

[Puffin13]

Canna-pass curbs coffee shop tourism

It's getting harder and harder to buy marijuana in the Netherlands. The latest hurdle for those who want to get high is the so-called weed-pass being introduced in the southern province of Limburg.

Q. "Is it possible to look at different ones?"
A. "Yeah, which ones do you want to see?"
Q. "The bubble gum, and the white widow."
A. "White widow..."
Q. "OK. May I see the jack haze?"

A guy is shopping for marijuana in the southern city of Maastricht. He's at a coffee shop called Easy Going which has already introduced the weed pass.

Here's how it works. To get the pass, you have to become a 'member' of a coffee shop, the Dutch cafes allowed to sell cannabis. After paying a fee and showing official identification, your details are entered into a computer system, and you get a pass.

The pass allows you to buy up to three grams of marijuana per day. All the coffee shops will be hooked up to the same system, so you can't cheat and get more by hopping from shop to shop.

Source & rest of article

[sh@dy]

this sucks, really.....why isnt it done with alcohol? ah I forgot, its widely excepted by the POLITICIANS because it wont do any harm to the big companies they get their money from because alcohol is no help in any other thing than getting drunk (of course there are other uses but its not as much as from marihuana.....)

[doobydave]

Q. "Is it possible to look at different ones?"
A. "Yeah, which ones do you want to see?"
Q. "The bubble gum, and the white widow."
A. "White widow..."
Q. "OK. May I see the jack haze?"
......
Cust: OK, may I have 30 grams please?
Budtender: Absolutely not. Here's 3g, but if you'd like to join that queue over there, you can talk direct with my suppliers.......

[munkyboy2k]

above comment is v.true! just gonna drive the scene underground and much more unregulated again!

are these pass things only avaliable to dutch residents?

[hippy_man99]

I've heard that its against EU policy to deny entrance to a shop based on citizenship, but i'm not quite sure so don't quote me on that.... i've also heard that the dutch are debating that as well....

even if its for dutch residents, I'm not too comfortable with them having my passport and residence information on file in a database shared by the WHOLE province? naw i'm good..

i'll bring a baggie from home...

hippy

[Sir Niall of Essex-sire]

Honsetly i think ive heard that the coffeeshops are on the brink of closure for a couple of years now, i dont think they will close them or make the enter on citizenship rule country wide. You have to remember that other towns have closed all shops in the city centre, has amsterdam followed...has it fuck. Dont be so paranoid about it, the legalisation movement is huge out there, people like MileHigh have donated alot of their time, it wont shut in my view, and most definatly not without a fight when people like MileHigh are involed.

[TwoCanucks]

I don't see this as end game for shops yet, and it might actually help the bottom line.

Think about it.

1 - the daily smoker who frequents his regular shop and buys 5g every day or every other day on average through a year. instead of paying the discounted 5g price on every purchase, he's buying 3g every day and paying a higher price per gram.

2 - the shops have to sell memberships. that is additional revenue on top of the higher priced weed.

3 - tourists are still going to come even with tougher access rules. i don't care how hard they make it, as long as there are shops in netherlands selling weed, i will make an effort to go.

4 - "700 coffee shops throughout the country, employing more than 4,500 people and generating an estimated 250 million Euros in revenue." -- 250 euros in any economy is a lot of tax revenue to just say forget about it.

Don't get me wrong, i still believe that the eventual plan is to close all or maybe 95% of coffeeshops, but the selling of memberships likely won't spell the closure of many or any shops.