It's Looking Good For Us Now... The Tide Is Turning!!!

General discussion about cannabis and coffeeshops.
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jimi62471
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Re: It's Looking Good For Us Now... The Tide Is Turning!!!

Post by jimi62471 »

sounds promising.. going to make one more trip in the late winter.. after the first of the year.. I'm down with going when it's a ghost town in Feb..


Living The Dream...
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spidergawd
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Re: It's Looking Good For Us Now... The Tide Is Turning!!!

Post by spidergawd »

Netherlands: Plan for register of coffeeshop users expected to be scrapped

Amsterdam Herald

Monday 29 Oct 2012
The Dutch government is on the verge of scrapping plans to turn coffeeshops into private members� clubs.

The Tweede Kamer coffeeshop in Amsterdam. Politicians are expected to include a watering down of the wietpas law in the coalition agreement.The move signals a watering down of the �wietpas� law, which is designed to stop drugs tourism by restricting access to the cannabis cafes.

The changes follow widespread criticism of the proposal in the three southern provinces, where it was first introduced on May 1.

Since then police have reported a steep rise in illegal street dealing and local councillors have complained have lost the ability to monitor and control the trade in soft drugs.

Sources in The Hague have told AD that the two parties in talks to form the next government are planning a more flexible approach to the law.

At the moment the wietpas law restricts access to coffeeshops to registered members, who must live in the local area, with an upper limit of 2000.

Under the revised plan, coffeeshops would remain open to all comers but visitors would have to show proof of residence in the Netherlands to prevent foreign tourists from entering.

Critics say many coffeeshop visitors are uncomfortable with the idea of putting their names on a register and are instead choosing to buy anonymously from street dealers.

Scrapping the registration requirement would also leave Dutch residents free to go into any coffeeshop in the country rather than being restricted to their local outlet.

The next government is expected to be a coalition between the Liberal (VVD) party, which devised the wietpas law, and Labour (PvdA), which has consistently opposed it.

Senior Labour politicians, including the mayors of Amsterdam and The Hague, have said it will wipe out years of progress in socially deprived areas if the rules are enforced on January 1.

Source: AD: Wietpas minder streng voor Nederlandse klanten http://www.ad.nl/ad/nl/1012/Nederland/a ... nten.dhtml

http://amsterdamherald.com/index.php/ne ... h-politics
/\ /\ That doesn't look like good news to me :|.
What a long strange trip it is.
Mike93
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Re: It's Looking Good For Us Now... The Tide Is Turning!!!

Post by Mike93 »

Would it be possible new reporters are just having a educated guess. Well just have to wait and see. Fingers crossed :D
youngian
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Re: It's Looking Good For Us Now... The Tide Is Turning!!!

Post by youngian »

However, the coalition agreement goes on to say that determining how this residency requirement is applied will be done ‘in discussion with the local councils concerned and if necessary phased in’. This will allow a tailor-made approach per locality, the agreement states.
This is a promising development and if it is reported right, than this is a compromise that will allow the Southern border towns to restrict non-residents while the big cities can carry on with business as usual.

We shall see.
jjmcjohnson
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Re: It's Looking Good For Us Now... The Tide Is Turning!!!

Post by jjmcjohnson »

It's dead in the water.

Victory!
ajointaday
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Re: It's Looking Good For Us Now... The Tide Is Turning!!!

Post by ajointaday »

jjmcjohnson wrote:It's dead in the water.

Victory!
+1
I think we won.. At first read, it doesn't sound good, foreigners still banned. But what are the odds that Amsterdam police actually enforce this? I say slim and none. They want to keep the tourism money coming in and like someone else said, the southern provinces can still use the residency clause to keep the German and Belgians tourists to a minimum. Just my opinion, but I'm comfortable booking my trip for next year now.
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TheGinSoakedGirl
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Re: It's Looking Good For Us Now... The Tide Is Turning!!!

Post by TheGinSoakedGirl »

'Tailor made local approach to residency' = Amsterdam treating staying at a local hotel as residency. Says nothing about permanent residency in my interpretation.

Such an interpretation still deals with the border hopping issue in the south that seemed to be the driver in this.
Hasta la Victoria Siempre
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Sailor59
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Re: It's Looking Good For Us Now... The Tide Is Turning!!!

Post by Sailor59 »

Looks like the typical national politicians fudge. Mr Von Nasty wants the weed pass as he cant be seen to be going soft. Mr Van Nice refuses to accept the weed pass in its current form. Von Nasty cant be seen to lose too much face so insists that the southern provinces remain in it. Van Nice agrees and proposes the large cities decide residency rules as it lets both of them off the hook and puts the responsibility onto others. Old Nasty sees a way out and agrees.

Win=Win situation for the major party leaders and a smooth transition to a workable coalition.

:)
Matroos negenenvijftig
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Smith2
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Re: It's Looking Good For Us Now... The Tide Is Turning!!!

Post by Smith2 »

A cautious welcome, but I wonder whether it will change the atmosphere if the law is technically there – whether shops that don't get many tourists will tell you to go away, sorry, it's the law if they're in that sort of mood. Which will make me and perhaps other sensitive souls disinclined to venture into out-of-the-way places. Or maybe that's me just being negative and paranoid.
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Not_the_monk
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Re: It's Looking Good For Us Now... The Tide Is Turning!!!

Post by Not_the_monk »

Sailor59 wrote:Looks like the typical national politicians fudge. Mr Von Nasty wants the weed pass as he cant be seen to be going soft. Mr Van Nice refuses to accept the weed pass in its current form. Von Nasty cant be seen to lose too much face so insists that the southern provinces remain in it. Van Nice agrees and proposes the large cities decide residency rules as it lets both of them off the hook and puts the responsibility onto others. Old Nasty sees a way out and agrees.

Win=Win situation for the major party leaders and a smooth transition to a workable coalition.

:)
Haha, great analysis. Don't ya just love politics :o
Colino
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Re: It's Looking Good For Us Now... The Tide Is Turning!!!

Post by Colino »

this is on greenhouse website





BREAKING NEWS - WEED PASS CANCELLED!
Our lobbying has proved successful.
The Weed pass is cancelled!
Local authorities now responsible for non resident admission.
On behalf of Arjan Greenhouse and colleagues we hope you continue
to enjoy the coffeeshops in the Netherlands!!
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the.jetsharks
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Re: It's Looking Good For Us Now... The Tide Is Turning!!!

Post by the.jetsharks »

niiiiiiice
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dconstrukt
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Re: It's Looking Good For Us Now... The Tide Is Turning!!!

Post by dconstrukt »

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
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Marco
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Re: It's Looking Good For Us Now... The Tide Is Turning!!!

Post by Marco »

2 things:

Someone owes Shaggy (I think it was him) an apology, because he was right.

Second, I guess Veggie can no longer compare the wietpas with the Holocaust.
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