Drug War Issues
Politics & Advocacy
Six Dutch border town cannabis coffee shop owners seeking to block local authorities from shutting them down lost a court battle last Friday. A judge in Breda in the southern Netherlands ruled that the coffee shop owners had chosen the wrong judicial venue for their challenge of the ban.
downstairs of a coffee shop (courtesy Wikimedia)
The coffee shop owners are challenging a decision by the mayors of Roosendaal and Bergen-op-Zoom, both near the Belgian border, to close all eight coffee shops in their communities in a bid to stop "drug tourism." An estimated 25,000 foreigners pour into the two towns each week to take advantage of the Dutch policy that tolerates retail marijuana sales. They are blamed for causing problems ranging from public urination to traffic congestion to hard drug dealing.
Under the ban, the coffee shops could stay open and serve alcohol, but could not sell marijuana. If they continued to sell marijuana, they could be punished with a five-year closure.
The ban by the mayors comes as the Dutch government wrestles with how to reduce or eliminate the number of foreigners coming to Holland from more repressive neighboring countries to buy marijuana. Last week, a leaked letter from three Dutch ministers suggested the government would seek a "members only" policy for the coffee houses.
Under European Union law, countries cannot discriminate by nationality, so the Dutch cannot ban foreigners from becoming coffee house members. But the Dutch government wants to get around the law by requiring that marijuana be purchased only with credit cards issued by Dutch banks.
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Comments
"drug tourism."
There is an other word for drug tourism it's called TOURISM.
what a bunch of morons. I would be promoting it not discouraging it.
"Drug" Tourism
Where do all these people sleep?rented hotel rooms.
Where do all these people eat?Local restaurants.
see the pattern that is starting.....................
All the time these "Drug"Tourists are not in the Coffee Shops,
they are patronizing the local businesses and attractions in the area.
The business community should promote this "Drug"Tourism as
all these tourists contribute to their incomes and pay taxes on whatever they purchase.
P.S.-we are talking about smoking Marijuana,which should
be legal everywhere anyway.
So glad I keep my Dutch Ban account open
I will Not be victimized by the unconscionable extremism of the current Dutch government under the extreme Christian-politician Jan Pieter Balkenende, who, in the end, after leading 4 governments in 6 years, could only harass coffeeshops and ban magic mushrooms, all while sipping expensive French wine ( he is Prime Minister) and swilling Belgian, German and Dutch beer (which every Dutchman loves), which together form the true nemesis of Dutch, Belgian, French and German school children, all while doing and saying nothing about THAT.
How bad can booze be, considering he uses it?
And he's not done much about coffeeshops, really. Coffeeshops have never occupied more than one sentence in any of the "regeerakkord," or governing agreements, or documents written at the formation of a government after elections saying this is our government and this is where we are going until the next election.
I am glad there are elections in the spring which the current government coalition partners will not survive.
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