The Netherlands: Marihuana : "the party is over - no more drug tourism to Holland" as judge backs cafe cannabis ban

A judge in the Netherlands has upheld a new law to ban foreign tourists from entering cannabis cafes.

Under the new law, 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 decriminalized, although not legal; police generally tolerate possession of up to five grams of cannabis.

The nationwide ban is being strongly opposed by the Mayor of Amsterdam, Eberhard van der Laan, because around a third of the city's tourists visit to smoke cannabis in the cafes. Already 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 majority of the Dutch population is happy with the ban, because most of Marihuana  trade is now being controlled by criminal elements in the Dutch society.

EU-Digest