Netherlands: ‘door’ to Amsterdam cafes for ‘cannabis tourists’

gain ground Amsterdam Mayor Vimki Halsema’s proposal to impose a temporary ban on entering the city’s cafes for tourists, i.e. Non-residents of the cityin an attempt to enforce a law known as the i criterion.

Although it is estimated that there will be no majority to enforce the ban when the city council votes on it on Wednesday, Haslema is not going to give up. In her view and the opinion of local police chiefs, banning tourists from cafes is an inevitable measure to reduce the size of the “soft” drug industry, deal with tourist inconvenience and crack down on “hard” drugs.

A recent study showed that 100 of the 166 coffee shops in the Dutch capital actually serve the needs of tourists only. Now that travel restrictions have been lifted due to the coronavirus, the famous red-light district is as noisy as ever and there is increasing pressure to tell people who want that kind of vacation to go elsewhere.

crime promotion

In April, in a 13-page policy proposal, the mayor of Amsterdam requested support from the city council to temporarily impose a “residents only” law, in large part due to concerns about the “criminal backdoor” of cafes. Smoking and possession of cannabis for personal consumption is “acceptable”, but commercial cultivation is not – so coffee shops will have to buy from criminals. A major 2019 report on the “dark side” of the capital suggested a review of the “population only” rule to take some steps to tackle this “urban jungle”.

Some political parties agree, including the center-right People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), which proposed a ban two years ago. “It’s one of the few ‘keys’ we can play at the local level to reduce so much downtown nuisance and adjust our ‘drinking drug’ image,” local party leader Claire Martens told the Observer. “Amsterdam is so beautiful and the residents deserve better.” Parties for singles and European tourists who come here in their cars to smoke weed and sleep in their cars and make noise do not add value to the city.”

With information from the Guardian

source extra time