Amsterdam crackdown continues

[nabraxas]

In October, the government launched a plan to ban ‘skunk’ weed because of its high THC content, placing it in the same “hard drugs” category as heroin, mushrooms, and cocaine.

Here are some other changes to the Opium Act set to go into effect:

1. The Private Club criterion.

 

 

The Private Club criterion means that access can only be granted and sales can only be made to members of the coffeeshop. A coffeeshop may have a maximum number of members of two thousand (as of 1 January 2013). The coffeeshop owner will have to document this in the form of a verifiable members list and he will responsible for the accuracy of said list.

 

2. The Resident criterion.

 

 

The Resident criterion means that membership of the coffeeshop is only available to Dutch residents aged 18 or over.

 

3. The Distance criterion (to be added Jan 1, 2014)

 

 

The Distance criterion means that the minimum distance between coffeeshops and schools will be set at 350 meters.

 

From the Dutch government website:

 

Enforcement of the tightened policy will commence on

1 May 2012

in the three southern provinces of Noord-Brabant, Limburg and Zeeland. The policy will be rolled out throughout the rest of the country as of

2013

.

 

Municipalities will enforce the new drugs policy in consultation with the Public Prosecution Service and the police with due consideration for local priorities.

 

The tightened policy means that coffeeshops will become smaller and more manageable and the attractiveness of Dutch drugs policy for foreign users will decline.

 

The bottom line

If you want to visit the Amsterdam your burnout uncle keeps telling you about (“Dude, you should have been there!”), you’ll have to get there by January 1, 2013.

 

http://matadornetwork.com/nights/amsterdam-update-dude-what-do-you-mean-i-cant-buy-pot-here/

i'd suggest Portugal or Spain as more pot friendly European destinations

[Bundy Bear]

there goes my holiday plans...not that im in any condition to fly.

[waterboy 2.0]

There goes the joys of space cakes.....

If you do go, don't eat em before you get on the plane

[sethomopod]

You could imagine the troubles they would have with tourists.. Even in Asia where everything is cheap, Alot of tourists turn into animals.. They get out of control, get too messed up to remember they are a visitor in someone elses lands...

I'm also sure Amsterdam wouldn't want to be remembered as a drug retreat for tourists..

Saying that though, My wife and I will be a guilty parties this August... Although, Living overseas from home, I know how to conduct myself in anothers country..

Looks like we got in just in time...

[whitewind]

Simple answer: Legalise pot everywhere so there is no need for people to spend shit loads of money and wasting precious resources travelling to distant parts of the planet to get their party hit. I for one would prefer it if my local party loving neighbours turned away from alcohol and their aggressive, noisy behaviour towards a more stoner style chillout sesh on friday and saturday nights, quite honestly.

[Cosmonaut]

Another thing about Amsterdam - make sure you go to the Anne Frank house, *then* the coffee shop.

[∂an]

well at least folks will now have to think about how much it sucks their government has made this plant illegal, instead of relying on a trip to amsterdam.

[reptyle]

maybe you can come up with a "simple" way of expressing your opinion to the wider population whitewind... lets say 10 pages or less...

glossy cover 1000 copies in print distributed to hmm... we should compile a list of recipients.

accompanied by some flyers of an even more concise nature...

k go.

[whitewind]

maybe you can come up with a "simple" way of expressing your opinion to the wider population whitewind... lets say 10 pages or less...

glossy cover 1000 copies in print distributed to hmm... we should compile a list of recipients.

accompanied by some flyers of an even more concise nature...

k go.

 

You do it. You're the artist, the man with the vision. I'm just a whinger who can't even find the time to help you with a constitution!

[PositiveHAL]

fuck the coffeeshops, head straight for the truffles

worked for me

[nabraxas]

fuck the coffeeshops

but it used to be such a cool scene, meeting people from all around the world, especially amazed Americans.

[shruman]

I wonder if they will still go into effect now the dutch gubament has collapsed?

[nabraxas]

^27 April 2012

A judge in the Netherlands is set to decide whether foreign tourists should be banned from entering cannabis cafes.

While soft drugs are tolerated, there is growing concern at tourists visiting just for drugs, and foreign dealers selling illegally at home.

The ban is due to start in three southern provinces next month, with a nationwide ban by the end of the year.

The case of a group of cafe owners who have tried to block the ban is being considered at The Hague district court.

If the measure is approved Dutch residents will still be allowed into the cafes, as long as they have valid identification, or possibly hold a new "weed pass" which is also being debated.

There are about 700 coffee shops, as they are called, in the Netherlands. The cultivation and sale of soft drugs through them is decriminalised, although not legal.

Cannabis re-classified

If the coffee shop owners lose their case they say they will take it to the European Court of Human Rights, on the grounds that the Dutch should not be allowed to discriminate against people on the basis of where they live.

In November the city of Maastricht brought in a coffee shop ban for foreign tourists from all countries, except Belgium and Germany, from where the majority of foreign customers come.

The moves are part of a tougher approach to drugs introduced by the coalition government elected 18 months ago.

In October strong cannabis was reclassified as a hard drug, amid concerns that it has a psychotic effect on some users.

The move forced cannabis coffee shops to remove the more popular stronger varieties from their shelves.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17865151

[shruman]

The government fell apart because of austerity measures & these laws will only hurt the dutch economy more, hopefully the next government will realise this.

[nabraxas]

Dutch judge upholds ban on foreigners buying pot

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Long famous for "coffee shops" where joints and cappuccinos share the menu, the Netherlands' famed tolerance for drugs could be going up in smoke.

A judge on Friday upheld a government plan to ban non-Dutch residents from buying marijuana by introducing a "weed pass" available only to residents.

The new regulation reins in one of the country's most cherished symbols of tolerance — its laissez-faire attitude to soft drugs — and reflects the drift away from a long-held view of the Netherlands as a free-wheeling utopia.

For many tourists visiting Amsterdam the image endures — and smoking a joint in a canalside coffee shop ranks high on their to-do lists along with visiting cultural highlights like the Van Gogh Museum.

The city's left-leaning Mayor Eberhard van der Laan is hoping to hammer out a compromise with the national government.

Coffee shops also have not given up the fight. A week ago they mustered a few hundred patrons for a "smoke-in" in downtown Amsterdam to protest the new restrictions.

A lawyer for owners, Maurice Veldman, said he would file an appeal against the ruling by a judge at The Hague District court, which clears the way for the weed pass to be introduced in southern provinces on May 1.

The pass will roll out in the rest of the country — including Amsterdam — next year. It will turn coffee shops into private clubs with membership open only to Dutch residents and limited to 2,000 per shop.

The most recent figures from the government's statistics bureau says the country has more than 650 coffee shops, 214 of them in Amsterdam. The number has been steadily declining as municipalities have imposed tougher regulations, such as shuttering ones close to schools.

But the new membership rules are the most significant rollback in years to the traditional Dutch tolerance of marijuana use.

The government argues that the move is justified as a way of cracking down on so-called "drug tourists," effectively couriers who drive over the border from neighboring Belgium and Germany to buy large amounts of marijuana and take it home to resell. They cause traffic and public order problems in towns along the Dutch border.

Such issues do not exist in Amsterdam, where most tourists walk or ride bikes and buy pot purely for their own consumption.

The weed pass "doesn't solve any problems we have here and it could create new problems," said city spokeswoman Tahira Limon.

It is not just hardcore potheads taking a toke in the city. Limon said four to five million tourists visit Amsterdam each year and around 23 percent say they visit a coffee shop during their stay.

Amsterdam argues that the reasons coffee shops were first tolerated decades ago are still relevant today — they are well-regulated havens where people can buy soft drugs without coming into contact with dealers of hard drugs like heroin and cocaine.

Coffee shops also are banned from serving alcohol and from selling drugs to people under 18.

The government in The Hague said Friday there would be no exceptions to the new rules.

"Amsterdam will also have to enforce this policy," said Job van de Sande, a spokesman for the Ministry of Security and Justice.

The conservative Dutch government introduced the new measures saying it wants to return the shops back to what they were originally intended to be: small local stores selling to local people.

However the Dutch government collapsed this week and new elections are scheduled for September. It is unclear whether the new administration will keep the new measures in place.

Coffee shop lawyer Veldman called Friday's court ruling a political judgment.

"The judge completely fails to answer the principal question: Can you discriminate against foreigners when there is no public order issue at stake?" he asked.

Coffee shop owners in the southern city of Maastricht have said they plan to disregard the new measures, forcing the government to prosecute one of them in a test case.

http://news.yahoo.co...-114048591.html

Edited April 28, 2012 by nabraxas

[woof woof woof]

guys & girls,... there is sooooo much pot in the Netherlands,.. I wouldnt worry too much about the ruling just yet. Anther thing is that there is much skepticism about the whole pass for residents thing.

While some European countries are relaxing their laws, others like Holland are becoming more strict. Remember that Holland has been soooo incredibly liberal all those years that it has caused allot of problems for the neighboring countries who did uphold their strict laws.

And of course making it more difficult for outsiders is going to make it more profitable for the locals selling it to tourists.. ( you can hardly call the locals 'criminals' in my opinion.)