DUTCH DRUG CAFÉ BAN PUTS BRITISH
NOSES OUT OF JOINT
Source: The
Times, UK
Pub Date:
Saturday, 25 October 2003
Subj: Dutch drug
café ban puts British noses out of joint
Author: Anthony
Browne
URL: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-867341,00.html
Weed World http://www.weedworld.co.uk/
Dutch drug café
ban puts British noses out of joint
After years of
tolerance, foreigners are to be excluded from Amsterdam’s cannabis shops
THOUSANDS of
Britons who flock to the cannabis cafés of Amsterdam each year may be left
stone cold by Dutch government plans to end “drug tourism”.
The Netherlands’
conservative Government has just unveiled a scheme to restrict access to the
country’s drug-selling coffee shops to Dutch residents only. Coffee shops would
be restricted to members, with membership permits sold only to local people.
The Dutch city
is renowned as the drugs capital of Europe, having become the destination of
choice for revellers looking for the high life. Hundreds of coffee shops openly
offer menus for different types of resin and grass.
However, the
Government is keen to clean up the country’s image and has been under pressure
from its more puritanical neighbours, particularly France and Germany, whose
citizens flock across the Dutch border to buy cannabis.
“We are willing
to do something about tourists and foreigners buying hashish in coffee shops.
One option is having permits for customers, and then you don’t give permits to
foreigners,” a spokesman for the Justice Ministry said.
The announcement
has dismayed Britain’s normally laid-back cannabis-users. “We are devastated,”
Alan Buffry, of the Legalise Cannabis Alliance, said. “It’s always been a
refuge where you can smoke and relax without having to look over your shoulder.
It was like a holiday from the police.”
The proposals
have also triggered vehement protests from the Dutch coffee shops, which are
fully licensed by local authorities and pay millions of pounds in tax. “It’s
totally ridiculous. The minister is stupid. If this system comes in, all the tourists
will buy from criminals in the street,” Arjan Roskam, of the Union of Cannabis
Retailers, said.
The plans, which
are to be confirmed by Christmas, were put forward by Piet Hein Donner, the
Justice Minister, during a visit to Germany, which has criticised the
Netherlands for not doing enough in the war on drugs.
The proposals
are aimed specifically at curbing cross-border drug-trafficking. German
dealers, for example, drive across the uncontrolled border, stock up at coffee
shops and then return.
About 60 per
cent of sales at coffee shops near the German border are to Germans, while in
Amsterdam in summer about 40 per cent of coffee-shop trade is with tourists.
Local
authorities are responsible for licensing coffee shops and it will be up to them
to implement the scheme. The Association of Dutch Municipalities said that it
would wait for the full publication of the plans before commenting. The
authorities have already closed some of the less respectable coffee shops and
restricted sales to 5 grams of cannabis to each customer at a time. Shops have
to limit their stock to 500 grams.
The conservative
Government has said that it wants to halve the number of coffee shops, which
have fallen from a peak of nearly 2,000 in 1997 to 782. This year, the coffee
shops survived a proposed smoking ban in all restaurants and cafés, which would
have wiped them out. The ban was dropped at the last minute.
Phil Kilvington,
editor of Britain’s Weed World magazine, was philosophical. With Britain
downgrading cannabis to a Class C drug, he said: “It’s going to be easier to
smoke here than go to Amsterdam. It’s not even very high quality there — you
can get better quality here in the UK, and people are starting to realise that.
”Different
smokes, different folks
Nordic
countries: Possession and use of soft drugs is illegal
Britain: From
January, marijuana, formerly Class B, will become a Class C drug. Possession
carries a maximum term of two years, but most offenders will get off with a
warning
France: Possession
of soft drugs risks a heavy fine and a year in prison, but cannabis users are
seldom prosecuted
Germany:
Cannabis use is illegal, but those possessing small quantities are seldom
prosecuted
Greece: Users
can face prison, but enforcement is lax
Portugal:
Cannabis is illegal, but those possessing small amounts are no longer jailed
but are instead given mandatory counselling, and sometimes community service or
a small fine
Switzerland:
Cannabis remains illegal, but probably not for long. A government attempt to
decriminalise it narrowly failed, but police still turn a blind eye to those
smoking it in public
Croatia:
Prosecution for possession for personal use has ended, but selling it is punishable
by up to 15 years in jail Italy: A 1993 referendum decriminalised possession of
a “minimum daily dose” of marijuana
Belgium:
Possession of cannabis was decriminalised in 2002 Spain: Possession of
marijuana for personal use carries no sanction
The Netherlands: Legislation dating back
to 1976 decriminalised cannabis. Consumption and sale of the drug is allowed in
coffee shops, with annual sales about £1.8 billion