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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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Dutch Vote To Tolerate Hash Farming
The Irish Examiner Thursday 29 Jun 2000 The Dutch parliament adopted a resolution yesterday to tolerate the cultivation of cannabis and to regulate the crop. MPs from two of the three parties in the government coalition, Labour and the smaller Democrats 66, drafted the motion which passed the 150 seat chamber by a 73 72 vote. As any tourist to Amsterdam soon learns, some 3,000 coffee shops openly sell hash and marijuana for smoking or hash cakes and cookies for eating. But authorities still crack down on the cultivation and supply of the drug. Tons of cannabis grown in Dutch fields are impounded each year, even though some city residents grow it in their window boxes. "One of the main objectives is to fight crime," said Labour MP Thanas is Apostolou, who jointly drafted the motion. "By regulating the supply we would know who is selling what and where it is going." But the vote was so narrow that Justice spokesman Victor Holtus said it was unlikely the cabinet would approve the resolution. "It contradicts international agreements and we don't live on an island. It is assumed that the minister won't support it," he said. The French government has been extremely critical of the liberal Dutch drugs policies and relations between the two countries soured over soft drugs in the 1990s. Justice Minister Benk Korthals said that rejecting the plan outright could be a mistake. "I could simply ignore the motion, but it is questionable whether that would be wise."
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