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Netherlands: No deadline yet for implementing cannabis cafe tourist ban

Expatica.com

Wednesday 03 Jul 2013

Justice minister Ivo Opstelten is not yet planning to impose a deadline on city councils to implement the ban on tourists visiting cannabis cafes, website nu.nl reports on Wednesday.

Nu.nl says Opstelten told MPs during a debate on the new rules for so-called coffee shops that he is still in talks with council officials and wants to ensure they have enough time to set up proper controls.

However, the minister said he will not tolerate mayors refusing to implement the new rules which ban tourists from buying marijuana. Research in May showed some two-thirds of the country's 480 cannabis cafes still sell to non-residents.

Grow your own

The new rules give some leeway to councils to tailor-make policies for their specific circumstances but a number of mayors, including Amsterdam's, have said they will not ban non-residents from using coffee shops.

Opstelten told MPs the rules have led to a sharp drop in drugs tourism and the increase in street dealing is a temporary problem. In Maastricht, where the ban on tourists was first implemented, extra police have been drafted in to deal with the surge in drug running.

The minister also said he does not support plans by some councils, such as Utrecht, to grow cannabis under licence for sale in coffee shops.

http://www.expatica.com/nl/news/dutch-news/No-deadline-yet-for-implementing-cannabis-cafe-tourist-ban_268964.html

 

 

 

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