PalenQ

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/...74Q64420110527

Hi times for foreigners in Holland to end - to go up in smoke so to speak?

Hans say it ain't true. Will tourism in places like Amsterdamned suffer or prosper because of this earth-shaking change in policy.

and how will other EU residents react to blatant discrimination. Will the English ban all Dutch from its pubs?

Will French ban Dutch from its boulangeries?

Will Italian glaces and cappuccinos not be sold to the Dutch?

Will the policy be enforced - indeed will tourists so inclined still be able to buy pot safely in Amsterdamned and other places or will it revert to seedy and shady street dealing like before the coffeeshop era started with the original Bulldog, Ruslands and Mellow Yellow amongst other pioneers started this quasi-legal activity?

Oh well the Dutch are becoming less of their ballyhooed tolerant in not only this way but so many others - will they follow French lead in banning certain atttire they feel attacks the Dutcfh way of life?

Well anyway a pox on the Dutch and their increasing conservatism - I guess the French have won out in dictating Dutch domestic policy.

I for one however fully expect to be able to score great weed in Haarlem next winter!

AnthonyGA

Drug-addled tourists are one thing that just about any country can easily do without. I'm sure the Netherlands will still attract tourists who don't need drugs to enjoy themselves.

Dukey1

Does anyone remotely suspect that the number of people who LIVE in Amsterdam just might outnumber the "foreign" visitors who are buying the goodies?

Now, what is to be done about the other "drug-addled" folks right here in the US..addled from that drug more commonly known as alcohol; or perhaps those "addled" people who haven't had their fix of the drug caffeine in the morning and are using it as an excuse for not being able to work yet?

PalenQ

But as one who has traveled to Amsterdam for years - not just because of coffeeshops though that was a pleasant and unique aspect you would be very surprised by well-heeled American tourists at least who did come to Amsterdam mainly because of the cofffeeshops - yes there were too many European youths from like France and Germany who come and sleep in their cars, etc and this type they do not want - ditto for what the Mayor of Amsterdam said recently about his decisions to largely abolish Amsterdamned's legendary red-light district, which has been in the old Sailors' Quarter since probably when the town itself was founded - he said he did not want British lager louts or those on hen and peck parties there - he wants to upscale the red-light district into like most canals host - fancy boutique hotels or plush offices.

Amsterdam is radically changing its image and if that's what they want, of corse... but be careful what they wish for IMO.

PalenQ

Now it will be ironic that anyone in Michigan who wants to go into a shop and buy legal cannabis from a menu with lots of varieties will be able to do it quite easily but in Amsterdam they will not be able to - wow who would have thunk that just a few years ago!

november_moon

The Dutch should take a lesson from the Americans - sending drugs underground does not decrease use and it certainly does not decrease crime and other social problems.

Cowboy1968

I don't think you will find some weed next winter. Even A'dam said they will just wait thru summer as some sort of grace period.

A similar stunt in Belgium had been approved by the European Court of Justice, as soft drugs are not legal in either NL or BE but simply tolerated. Thus, the rest of the EU citizens cannot claim discrimination as it is not a legal good or service.

While the good law-abiding citizens may applaude the Dutch on their way to sanitize the country of all evil, one must not forget that this comes from a nutty right-wind extremist who became the tip on the (political) scale in NL.

The drug issue is just the tip of the iceberg.. probably not the most important.. but you should be aware of whose politics you are praising.

PalenQ

Thus, the rest of the EU citizens cannot claim discrimination as it is not a legal good or service>


So the Dutch can ban foreigners from illegal activities but allow their own citizens to break EU law - that my friend seems fraught with lots of implications for any ole EU country to do similar shananigans to skirt laws they do not like - maybe the Brits will start selling fish and chips in newspaper cones again, against I believe EU dictum.

Cowboy1968

Well, that's the way it is. Drug laws are not EU laws.

If you need guidance where to light up in peace:
http://www.webehigh.com/city/detail.php?CITYID=16

That article is a bit outdated, though. Berlin has raised the amount of "personal use" that cannot be penalized from 10 to 15 grams last year. Prosecution is outlawed by state law. Don't ever sell, though.
And other states have tighter laws, so don't light up in Bavaria. Their state-sponsored drug is beer.

nicklama

Well said Durkey1, some people too blindly believe that illegality = life destorying awfulness .. I'm more of a drinker myself and will readily admit that alcohol is a bigger bane.

PalenQ

Spain and Portugal I believe have legaqlized cannabis to a certain amount - Portugal may have legalized all drugs and not just pot for personal use in limited supplies.

The_lonely_traveler

I'm pretty sure the average tourist will still be able to score in Amsterdam. It's the small towns in the south of the Netherlands that have many problems with drugs-tourism for which the new system is supposed to be a solution. Drugs-runners, addicts, petty-crime for money... that's the kind of thing these new laws are supposed to (somewhat) stop.

I've never understood why anyone would come all the way to Amsterdam just because of the coffeeshops though.

bardo1

<i>I've never understood why anyone would come all the way to Amsterdam just because of the coffee shops though.</i>

<b>No one</b> flies across the Atlantic to Amsterdam "just because" of the coffee shops any more than anyone flies from the US to Naples "just because" of the pizza.

If you happen to be there anyway, however, you may want to go on and try a slice...

ira

Hey Du,

It is so amusing to listen to those who try to rationalize a drug habit.
...............................................
Hey B,

>No one flies across the Atlantic to Amsterdam "just because" of the coffee shops ....

I'm not so sure of that. Over the years, I've known many a young person who said he/she was going to visit Europe and never left A'dam.
.................................................
>....decisions to largely abolish Amsterdamned's legendary red-light district, .....<

Now <i>that</i> is serious.

It should be brought before the EC.

PalenQ

Hey Du,

It is so amusing to listen to those who try to rationalize a drug habit.>

yup say that to your boozing friends - pot in so many ways is less debilitating and medically harmful than pot - to make such a statement just tells me you are reacting to some knee-jerk idea of pot being addictive - unlike booze and nicotine for instance. Sheer ignorance IMO - oh well have another drink bub!

AnthonyGA

Drinking alcohol is a bad habit. So is puffing tobacco or marijuana cigarettes. In my experience, people who use drugs regularly have issues, so I prefer to avoid them. It would seem that the Netherlands would prefer to avoid them, also.

november_moon

When we were in Amsterdam, I enjoyed the signs on cafe and restaurant terraces that said "No Drugs" - meanwhile 75% of the people sitting there are drinking some sort of alcoholic beverage and smoking a cigarette. Yeah, no drugs though

Ozarksbill

It amuses me that a coffee shop isn't for coffee. So to get coffee you go somewhere else. Anyway we once had a tour of Christiania in Copenhagen where at the time drugs were sold in the open, hash on Pusherstreet stalls. Has that been closed down?

Bill in Boston

hetismij

The reason for this change has nothing to do with Amsterdam or American tourists.
It has everything to do with the French, Belgian, German and other European youths who travel to the coffeeshops in the border towns, get high and cause massive problems - like driving whilst stoned.
They are the reason coffeeshops will only be allowed to sell to Dutch citizens. Non Dutch residents will also be excluded.

If other countries had followed the Dutch example then there wouldn't be the problems there are.

PalenQ

Ozarksbill - hard to tell about Christiana - the whole thing was decided to be done away with last I knew - government reclaiming their land - leaving some residents with their own property.

and in Amsterdam to get a coffee go to a koffieshop - not a coffeeshop!

and IMO it is sad when France dictates Dutch domestic policy