“Psst wanna buy a weed pass…”

[Balou]

The introduction of weed passes to buy
marijuana from coffeeshops in the
Netherlands can go ahead. That is the
conclusion of the Ministry of Security
and Justice following the latest ruling by
the country’s highest administrative
court and advisory body, the Council of
State.any local councils oppose introducing this
measure to discourage drug tourism in the
Netherlands. In Amsterdam, the Christian
Democrats have devised a way to get
around the new law: tourists can buy weed
passes from the hotel doorman.

Drug tourists
It is a complex issue. Dutch border towns
are inundated with drug tourists, who come
to coffeeshops to buy cannabis . To keep
foreigners out, the government wants to
introduce a club card which is only available
to Dutch nationals over the age of 18. It has
been dubbed the weed pass. But critics say
the measure will stimulate the sale of drugs
on the street, which creates even bigger
problems.

The city of Maastricht wanted to introduce a
weed pass back in 2006, but the Council of
State ruled that the municipality was not
authorised to do so. It stated that a pass
system could only be introduced if the
national drug legislation, the Opium Act,
was changed. That is what Justice Minister
Ivo Opstelten wants but local councils
- including Maastricht - oppose the change.
Labour MP Lea Bouwmeester welcomes the
Council of State's ruling.
“It means the minister has to look for an
alternative and will have to consult local
councils. Changing the Opium Act is very
complicated, because it actually states that
selling soft drugs is illegal. So it would be
strange to say that introducing a weed pass
is somehow allowed.”

Street Peddling
Amsterdam city council – which has far
more coffee shops than any other
municipality - also opposes its introduction
because it will encourage drug peddling on
the street. Get tough on street peddling and
introduce the weed pass, is what the
Christian Democrats are saying in the
council chambers. At present, there is only a
ban on selling cannabis to the under-18 s.
Christian Democrat councillor Lex van
Drooge comments:
“We are in favour of the weed pass , because
it means that using drugs is not regarded as
the norm. In schools in Amsterdam, some
pupils smoke a lot of cannabis, they drop
out of school, and there is an increase in
schizophrenia. We do not want that. If
people want to use cannabis for enjoyment,
that's up to them. We are not fervently
against that, but it should not be the norm.”
He hopes that the system is introduced
within a year.

Tourists
The city council is pragmatic too. Around
four million tourists come to the capital
every year. Around one million of them buy
and use soft drugs. That makes the
coffeeshops important to the city’ s
economy. The Christian Democrats have a
solution for tourists:
“If you want to, you can resolve this
problem, but you have to be careful . You
could for instance buy a temporary weed
pass for a coffeeshop. I am not really
concerned about the roughly seven percent
of tourists who come here to use cannabis.”

Regional differences
Ms Bouwmeester does not think weed passes should be introduced everywhere in the country. She thinks the government should take regional differences into account:

“Leeuwarden, Amsterdam and Maastricht
cannot be compared. In Venlo – near
Maastricht - coffeeshops have been moved
to the edge of town. This has been shown to
work. The minister has to start listening to
the local councils and let go of his own
ideas.”

The Council of State ruling has been a long
time coming. The question now is whether
the government is actually ready to change
the Opium Act.
http://www.nw.nl/english/article/“psst-wanna-buy-a-weed-pass…”

[sh@dy]

guys......dont let that happen. anything.
this whole world is going crazy, capitalists are buying off our freedom from the politicians of this world, no matter if they are "Obama", "Merkel" or "Sarkozy", everyone of them is giving your rights away for money.
FUCK THEM, next time there are votes in your country, dont vote for the big parties.

[donpacino]

The introduction of weed passes to buy
marijuana from coffeeshops in the
Netherlands can go ahead. That is the
conclusion of the Ministry of Security
and Justice following the latest ruling by
the country’s highest administrative
court and advisory body, the Council of
State.any local councils oppose introducing this
measure to discourage drug tourism in the
Netherlands. In Amsterdam, the Christian
Democrats have devised a way to get
around the new law: tourists can buy weed
passes from the hotel doorman.

Drug tourists
It is a complex issue. Dutch border towns
are inundated with drug tourists, who come
to coffeeshops to buy cannabis . To keep
foreigners out, the government wants to
introduce a club card which is only available
to Dutch nationals over the age of 18. It has
been dubbed the weed pass. But critics say
the measure will stimulate the sale of drugs
on the street, which creates even bigger
problems.

The city of Maastricht wanted to introduce a
weed pass back in 2006, but the Council of
State ruled that the municipality was not
authorised to do so. It stated that a pass
system could only be introduced if the
national drug legislation, the Opium Act,
was changed. That is what Justice Minister
Ivo Opstelten wants but local councils
- including Maastricht - oppose the change.
Labour MP Lea Bouwmeester welcomes the
Council of State's ruling.
“It means the minister has to look for an
alternative and will have to consult local
councils. Changing the Opium Act is very
complicated, because it actually states that
selling soft drugs is illegal. So it would be
strange to say that introducing a weed pass
is somehow allowed.”

Street Peddling
Amsterdam city council – which has far
more coffee shops than any other
municipality - also opposes its introduction
because it will encourage drug peddling on
the street. Get tough on street peddling and
introduce the weed pass, is what the
Christian Democrats are saying in the
council chambers. At present, there is only a
ban on selling cannabis to the under-18 s.
Christian Democrat councillor Lex van
Drooge comments:
“We are in favour of the weed pass , because
it means that using drugs is not regarded as
the norm. In schools in Amsterdam, some
pupils smoke a lot of cannabis, they drop
out of school, and there is an increase in
schizophrenia. We do not want that. If
people want to use cannabis for enjoyment,
that's up to them. We are not fervently
against that, but it should not be the norm.”
He hopes that the system is introduced
within a year.

Tourists
The city council is pragmatic too. Around
four million tourists come to the capital
every year. Around one million of them buy
and use soft drugs. That makes the
coffeeshops important to the city’ s
economy. The Christian Democrats have a
solution for tourists:
“If you want to, you can resolve this
problem, but you have to be careful . You
could for instance buy a temporary weed
pass for a coffeeshop. I am not really
concerned about the roughly seven percent
of tourists who come here to use cannabis.”

Regional differences
Ms Bouwmeester does not think weed passes should be introduced everywhere in the country. She thinks the government should take regional differences into account:

“Leeuwarden, Amsterdam and Maastricht
cannot be compared. In Venlo – near
Maastricht - coffeeshops have been moved
to the edge of town. This has been shown to
work. The minister has to start listening to
the local councils and let go of his own
ideas.”

The Council of State ruling has been a long
time coming. The question now is whether
the government is actually ready to change
the Opium Act.
http://www.nw.nl/english/article/“psst-wanna-buy-a-weed-pass…”

Is this a joke, i mean they plan on introducing a weed pass to stop tourists from entering coffee shops and then before it even comes in to affect they plan on the weed passes being sold to tourists, where is the logic in this.

It does seem like there is gonna be quite a struggle and alot of changes needed to be made before this whole weed pass issue can go any further though, especially in Amsterdam. A good thing in my book, maybe the will realise that it wont be worth it or the governmet may change before it has chance to go ahaed.

Just humour me, but in a worst case scenario this pass does go ahead, how long do you guys think it will be untill Amsterdam adopt it to, if at all? I know a previous post claims it wont go ahead in Amsterdam until 2015 but i cant find any evidence to support this, so i was just wondering what you guys think?

Peace.

[USbongLord]

yawn..thats what i think

[XANAX]

Just humour me, but in a worst case scenario this pass does go ahead, how long do you guys think it will be untill Amsterdam adopt it to, if at all? I know a previous post claims it wont go ahead in Amsterdam until 2015 but i cant find any evidence to support this, so i was just wondering what you guys think?

Several inital reports (news articles) would have you believe that it starts in the south later this year and expands to the entire country beginning 2012. So it would be in effect in Amsterdam by next year. This timeline may be optimistic (for them) though, as implementing it, I imagine could take much longer once offficially in place.

[cattales1960]

According to Nol who owns coffeeshops in Harleem, it did not go thru. its safe for the next 4 years he said.