 | NORML News: EU approves coffeeshop policy |
 But Dutch may restrict canna-cafes to locals
Holland will be allowed to keep its coffeeshops, where marijuana is openly sold and smoked, under a new European Union law.
NORML News Summer 2003-4
Justice ministers from the 15 EU member states agreed to harmonize their national drug laws, and drug traffickers across Europe will face 1-3 years in prison for producing or distributing drugs, including cannabis, coca and opium plants. But individual countries are allowed to set their own rules on personal consumption, providing a loophole for Holland's famed cannabis cafes.
However, the Dutch government has proposed restricting access to the coffeeshops to Dutch nationals. People would need a pass card or membership to enter, and cards would be limited to Dutch residents.
The government said it is responding to foreign pressure, notably from Germany, whose citizens flood across the border to score. But the proposal fits precisely with the government's own anti-drug agenda.
The Netherlands effectively decriminalised marijuana in 1976, and its coffeeshops are tolerated as a technically illegal but acceptable means of allowing consumption and sale of cannabis. More than 800 are currently open, generating more than US$3 billion in sales and nearly US$340 million in tax revenues each year. The coffee shops have also attracted foreign "drug tourism" for at least 20 years
They aren't going along quietly with the plan. "It's totally ridiculous. If this system comes in, all the tourists will buy from criminals in the street," said Arjan Roskam of the Union of Cannabis Retailers.
Nol van Schaik, owner of the Willie Wortels coffee shops and a leader of the Dutch cannabis movement, said the plan would be unworkable, not least of all because people like him would actively work to sabotage it. "We will always have a host available, wearing a T-shirt with the following print: I buy cannabis for foreigners!"
Above right: Holland's first coffeeshop, the Mellow Yellow
Right: Dutch Flowers is a nice coffeeshop with very nice hash.
Above: Woody Harrelson spotted in the Grasshopper, Waterlooplein, Amsterdam.
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