The far right Dutch government has just announced that starting next year, only Dutch citizens will be allowed buy cannabis in the Netherlands’ world famous “coffee shops”.
I have to imagine that tourism to Holland is going to take a big hit, as potheads from all over the world currently flock to the Netherlands to legally smoke; I guess that the significant tax revenue that the coffee shops produce will have to made up in some other way.
Don’t bogart that joint…
Got a link? I have to say, that’s pretty shortsighted on the part of the Dutch government. Why would they do that? Is it a public safety issue? Potheads from abroad are rioting in the streets of Amsterdam while Dutch potheads are mellow?
Or is it a potato chip supply thing?
So, in the Netherlands, holding the position that only Dutch citizens can legally buy marijuana counts as “far” right?
WAG: maybe they aren’t rioting in the streets but it could be that the current policy attracts a lot of drug addict types that occasionally cause other problems or just aren’t the kind of people they want to have around… still though, the economic hit would hardly seem justified.
It’s pretty reasonable to assume that stoned tourists are a lot more difficult that stoned locals. They’re coming over with the express intention to get blazed and they’re doing it with a touristy, vacation mentality. I’m sure that they’re pretty rambunctious.
But it’s pot. How frickin’ difficult can they be? This seems like a dumb move to me. Time for California to legalize and become the marijuana tourism capital of the world!
And what about stoned residents and immigrants? I mean, the world isn’t divided into “tourists” and “nationals”!
alfabex, in general in Western Europe anything which separates “nationals” from “anybody else” is “far right”.
In reading the wiki"Drug policy of the Netherlands", it seems the Dutch have come to the conclusion that high concentrations of potheads in urban centers are an annoying PITA and are seeking to let some air out of that balloon.
The number of people going to the Netherlands to smoke pot has to be small relative to the number of people who are potheads. Amsterdam was always seen as a yuppie vacation to me.
This isn’t primarily about Amsterdam, it’s more about a dozen cities on the German/Belgian border where coffeeshops cause quite a lot of crime/traffic/shit because of the large stream of foreigners who only visit to buy some weed/pot.
At least the tourists in A’dam get the munchies while they’re still in town.
Yeah, I’d think at the very least all those business owners who profit from the tourism would be pretty pissed about this.
In a related story, Taco Bell has announced it will be closing its Dutch franchises.