Post date: Apr 27, 2012 6:31:27 PM
The law, which goes into force in three southern provinces on May 1 before going nationwide next year, means coffee shops won't be able to sell cannabis to foreigners any longer.
Coffee shops will become membership clubs, able to sell cannabis to registered members only.
Only locals able to present a Dutch residency permit will be allowed to join. Each coffee shop will be limited to 2,000 members -- well below the number of consumers a coffee shop like 'Easy going' in Maastricht city centre is getting now.
A Dutch court rules that a ban to sell cannabis to foreigners is legal, creating great disappointment among coffee shops owners and foreign consumers.
MAASTRICHT, THE NETHERLANDS (APRIL 27, 2012) (REUTERS) - A controversial law that will make it harder for foreign tourists to buy cannabis at the Netherlands' famous coffee shops has been upheld by a Dutch court on Friday (April 27).
The law, which reverses 40 years of liberal drugs policy in the Netherlands, is targeted at the many foreigners who have come to see the country as a soft drugs paradise and to tackle a rise in crime related to the drug trade.
Marc Josemans, the chairman of Maastricht Coffee shops association 'VOCM', said the new law will be counter-productive.
"What we see now, the new rules that have to be implemented from the first of May, are really counterproductive, moralistic, symbol politics. I mean, the only party that is going to gain from these new rules are the criminal organisations, to be honest with you. Staff in the coffee shops will lose their jobs. Clients will be criminalised again, because they have to return to the illegal circuit. Economic influence in this town is being lost. Tourism suicide, one might call it. Actually everybody loses except the criminal organisation," said Josemans.
Josemans said the new law comes from a right-wing government targeting 'leftist hobbies.'
Cannabis users are upset about the ruling too, already planning where else they could get the precious substance.
Jean-Pierre Pedri, who came from Belgium with his friend Eric Brijs (pronounce Breiss), said he will have no choice but to buy cannabis on the streets.
Brijs said he will try and grow the weed at home.
"It's stupid, it's dumb, it's... I don't even understand why it's illegal in Belgium," said Brijs.
Some users regard the requirement to register as an invasion of privacy, Josemans said.
"Nobody knows what is going to happen with the information we have to keep here in the shop for, to be checked upon by the government. One could imagine that this information is being abused by the government, for example, to give information to insurance so that the premium will rise if they find out that you use cannabis, or your car insurance will rise the premium, may be you will lose the job," Josemans added.
Consumers entering the coffee shops already have to produce their identity papers. These data are currently being kept for 48 hours on a terminal non-accessible from outside, according to Josemans.
With the new law, a 'weed pass' will be created and data will be kept much longer, Josemans said, adding that the government has refused to give any guarantees on how those data may get used.
The Netherlands is one of the few countries in the world where marijuana and hash are sold openly, but moves to crackdown on its sale have risen under the conservative government of Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
The Dutch government in October launched a plan to ban what it considered to be highly potent forms of cannabis - known as "skunk" - placing them in the same category as heroin and cocaine.
The Dutch government also plan to forbid any coffee shops within 350 metres (yards) of a school, with effect from 2014.
On the streets of Maastricht, reactions to the new law were mixed.
"This is bad for everyone. Stop it all ! It's an addiction. It costs an awful lot of money," said Anne van Os.
"When it becomes illegal they will still come to Maastricht, because it's much easier to buy weed here. And instead of them sitting inside they will go on to the streets. They will also be able to buy the weed there, and they are going to be a nuisance for people," said Bas Bonthuis.
While the sale of marijuana and hash is tolerated in the Netherlands, cultivating commercial supplies is illegal, making it complicated for coffee shop owners to acquire stock.