Yogi Bear
Hereby the translation of the Volkskrant article published today.
Amsterdam coffeeshops will remain open for tourist.
Tourists will be able to continue visiting the 220 coffeeshops in Amsterdam,even though they don,t reside in the Netherlands.Mayor van der Laan confirms this to the Volkskrant newspaper on the basis of the governing agreement of the new cabinet.
He has been in discussion with Minister Opstelten of Security and Justice for over a year now about the consequences of a new soft drugs policy for Amsterdam.The capital is home to a third of the total number of coffeeshops in the Netherlands.From an estimated 7 million tourists that visit Amsterdam , 1 and half million will visit a coffeeshop.
Mayor van der Laan;' Those one and a half million tourists are not going to say ,well then no weed at all, they will swarm out all over the city,looking for drugs,more street robberies ,fights over fake drugs, no control over the quality of drugs,everything we used to have in misery will return again'.He has promised the minister that he will strictly deal with criminality and nuisance around coffeeshops. and will continue to discourage weed use among minors.
The demissionary cabinet only wanted to allow Dutch citizens to visit coffeeshops and they had to register for a weed pass . The weed pass all ready enforced in the south of the Netherlands is now of the table.But access remains only available to those who reside in the Netherlands.
The control on this will take place according to the new governing agreement-'in negotiation with involved cities'and when necessary fased, which will be connected to local coffeeshop and safety policies.It,s this clausule that Amsterdam as the first big city will use to keep coffeeshops open for tourists.
Minister Opstelten wants to combat the bother of drugs tourism.Especially the borders area down south have bother from that.Down there French,German and Belgiums will jump the border to buy soft drugs ,because the sale of this is prohibited in their countries.
TOURISTS
In Amsterdam this does,t happen,there the buying of soft drugs is one of many activities for tourists.With disallowing tourist from entering coffeeshops all the pro,s of the coffeeshop system would be lost, so says Mayor van der Laan.Those pro,s are ,less nuisance, control over quality of the soft drugs and age of buyers and no criminal street dealing.We are doing what has to be done.
The Zeedijk area stood symbol to that misery.It took the city council,police and it,s inhabitants 20 years to reconquer that area.
Mayor van der Laan and minister Opstelten have agreed about a hard approach on coffeeshops that break the rules.
Amsterdam is changing it,s HIT team to a coffeeshop intervention team - Sales to minors, a too large a supply,no advertising and no nuisance , We,re going to approach it 'rucksichtlos'.
In the governing agreement-thecontent of active ingredient in soft drugs ,will be bound to a still to be decided maximum content.Especially weed has gotten a lot stronger the last years.Mayor van der Laan: Health will be upfront,I can see around me that it can be dangerous .
And; 'Understand me right ,you are not talking to the errand by of the coffeeshops owners,I do think the system is good but for me there are too many coffeeshop owners playing down the dangers. " Mayor you do understand that it,s just like a Bacardi cola, and that it depends on the amount of Bacardi you put in'. That kite does,t fly for me ,I can decide for myself with a Bacardi cola ,with weed I can not.
HOT ITEM
Abroad the coffeeshops have turned out to be a hot item.
Amsterdam is being bombarded daily by media like,CNN,BBC,CBS and many other European broadcasters.-They would all like to get Mayor van der Laan in front of their cameras to hear what is going to happen to the famous Amsterdam coffeeshops.And the writing press is overwhelming the information department of the council with questions about the 'dope pass' and the Haschisch-ausweis'.
