Dutch Government to Ban Tourists From Cannabis Shops

[OhTheAgony]

Yeah, I think that's the reason behind it too.

The mayor of Maastricht wasn't to happy with how things went today or so it seemed. He claims the coffee shop owners disrupt local society by closing down today, lol. I think he got it backwards, but I'm glad he's noticing the consequences anyway.

edit: Tilburg.

 

[tepictoton]

a little bit f news from Sittard...shops have had an official warning and cannot sell anymore to people without the dreaded 'wietpas'...

good thing friend of mine went to amsterdam today and he will bring me some nice Kush when he gets back this evening

 

[OhTheAgony]

What, you didn't get the pass yourself?

How many shops are there in Sittard, and how many of those are still open? I've read only 3 of the 11 shops in Tilburg are willing to stay open under the new system. More shops then that probably aren't necessary anyway, since most dutchies aren't willing to register.

They do have a similar private-club system in Spain though, it seems to work rather well there so far.

I think it will depend on the court hearing what will happen now. We are either all fucked in a week or two, or not. The lawyers seem positive though, fingers crossed

 

[tepictoton]

Euhmm, even if I wanted too(and I would not) I cannot get one. I live in Belgium...Work in Holland.

There are 3shops (same owner) in Sittard, and another in Roermond(same owner again).

Yesterday all was as before, then they had a police check in Roermond and got an official warning to comply or they would be closed for 3months. From what the guy at the counter told me, his boss is seriously considering closing the shops...

Does seem like things are going to be really fucked up over here...

But I cannot help but smile...
ps I have been going to Nijmegen for the past year anyway to do my 'shopping', and thye wont have a wietpas till next year...

In Maastricht people were handing out cards with home adresses for buying...and I guess this will be the way it goes if this stays the way it is. I mean, no growers have quit so their product must go somewhere. Neither have people decided en mass to quit using the herb...

 

[vorrange]

Just out of curiosity, what are the requirements for a wietpas?

I suppose the government would expect some coffeeshops to close, and maybe it was part of their intention with the introduction of the wietpas. I think it is like reverse engineering drug regulation in a way, and it is interesting to analyze how people who live in Holland will adapt to the new policies.

As for the people who live in the borders, i guess most will resort to dealers again instead of going all the way to holland. And i guess some producers in holland will start to make contacts with people outside Holland since there was a big share of the profits coming from tourists or people who lived in nearby countries.

 

[OhTheAgony]

You have to get a birth certificate at city hall and take that to the coffeeshop to register yourself. The registration itself remains at the coffeeshop, but they have to allow a designated officer to check it when asked. It's allowed to register yourself with more then one coffeeshop, but they have to be in the district/county/province (not sure what the right translation would be, but you'll get the picture hopefully) where you live.

There isn't a real pass anymore btw, that idea was canceled to save money. It's just a registration but everybody just still calls it wietpas.

Haha, sorry, I thought you were dutch Tepictoton. Nijmegen is a nice city though, great shops too. I dated a girl there for a few years a long long time ago and it still feels a bit like coming home every time I cross the Waalbrug.

 

[djonkoman]

I indeed also read that it isn't an actual card, it gets linked to your sofinummer/BSN, wich is the number by wich you're known to the government(wich is on your ID too)
so I can immagine a lot of people don't want to register, could screw you in some professions. or when you get money from the gobernment for being jobless

I probably can't get one of it gets implemented here, the coffeeshops are in leeuwarden, but I live in a neighbouring municipality/region. in the whole province there are only 3 cities/towns with coffeeshops(not all are officially cities), so a lot of people will be in this same situation.
did a quick googlesearch and apparently in the whole country there are around 340 municipalities without coffeeshops, and only around 100 who do have coffeeshops.

 

[vorrange]

Somehow it seems that they are preparing the path to ilegality again.. :/

What you are saying is that about 2/3 of Netherlands will be unable to have a wietpas then. It would make sense if the wietpas could allow you to buy in any coffeeshop around the country.

 

[djonkoman]

well ofcourse a lot of the more densely populated municipalities are the big cities in the west of wich all or most have coffeeshops. so 2/3 of the netherlands is a bit 'kort door de bocht' as we say in dutch(to quickly concluded, litterally: too short trough the corner)
I think my province is one of the heavier 'victims' in this area, a more sparsely populated area compared to the west, we have 11 official cities but I know that one of them has a (permanent) populationsize similar to the small village I live in
I live close to leeuwarden wich has plenty of coffeeshops, I've heard leeuwarden has the lowest citizens to coffeeshops ratio of the country, but no source to back it up. but would be logical considering it's servicearea also includes the municipalities around it.
but I think the regions in this province further removed from the coffeeshops could have already more dealers, if that's the case maybe this region is also more quickly serviced illegally when the legality stops.

 

[OhTheAgony]

I hadn't even thought about that Djonko. I wonder if they haven't thought of that, perhaps you can just register with coffeeshops at neighboring counties or something?

But seriously, would you register if you could? It doesn't seem smart to me to put your name on a list admitting you use and want to obtain a substance that could very well be declared illegal in a few years. I'm turning to the illegal circuit myself instead rather than going with this craziness. I'll either grow myself or buy from friends and acquaintances and actually be saving money from now on. Idiots, I would have even been willing to pay taxes over my beloved herbs if they had only played their cards right.

I'm not sure what is going on right now though. It seems they're not even going to prosecute the shops that were 'breaking the law' last week. Other political parties (PVDA) are gathering evidence to show that the governments decision to go through with this idiotic plan are already causing a lot of public disturbances and whatnot. It seems we'll have to wait till after the new elections in September to know where we're actually at for sure.

 

[djonkoman]

I wouldn't register either. I've already done som grows, but last year's one failed. but if everyrthing goes well this year I'll be suplied again with my own harvest before the card gets implenented here. and otherwise I would prefer buying from a dealer than to register myself and have my BSN written down by police.

 

[Elluzion]

I don't think that the dutch government would do this just because of all the revenue they receive from the taxed cannabis from tourists. They would be stupid to stop it..

 

[vorrange]

That is the issue right? From the moment they know that you, with ID number XXXX is a marijuana user, it is like you have a record. There is no telling in what would happen in a few years if the law took a prohibition turn for the worse yet again.

I still think maybe there we'll be a way to undo this wietpas. I think a much better idea would be to limit the quantity you can buy and you have to present the coffeshop clerk with your ID, but with no registry needed.

Random searches in coffeshop with fines attached would help keep people from breaking the law and everybody is happy. Not the tourists, but at least the dutch. It seems you are being punished because some people don't know how to behave.

 

[djonkoman]

I don't think that the dutch government would do this just because of all the revenue they receive from the taxed cannabis from tourists. They would be stupid to stop it..

they are stupid, and they don't care. they think weed=drugs=bad, so they don't care of t brings in money


@vorrange: this was already the case. you are only allowed to buy 5 grams per coffeeshop per day(new rules say 3 grams), and they already checked ID's to check for age.
and the checks with fines(and closement of coffeeshops) was/is also already happening.

 

[tepictoton]

tuesday the judge will have his(or her) say about this in the case against Easy Going. Interesting fact to know is that Maastricht has jumped up in the list of most criminal cities in Holland to spot number 3...

 

[Crohnie]

Mod note: This post and the posts below were moved from thread "The new Dutch government scraps the weed pass for Amsterdam!"

3 days ago, the new Dutch government scrapped the "weed pass" for Amsterdam The ban on tourists entering Amsterdam's coffee shops had been scheduled to start January 1, 2013. I've been following this story closely so I can tell you, this is unexpected good news. My 50th birthday trip to Amsterdam is back on

 

[OhTheAgony]

Awesome! I had missed that news report so thanks for this!

It really does seem that local governments will have the final word in how these new rules are interpreted after all. Even though Amsterdam is a good start and I'm glad for all the future tourist, I would find it odd if it turns out I will have to buy a new birth certificate every 3 months to be able to buy mj in my own town while every citizen of this world is free to buy it in Amsterdam without one. I think this only proves the new system really is nothing but a joke. I hope there's more behind it though, perhaps they were just looking for a legal way to refuse foreigners access from coffeeshops in the 3 southern provinces where drug trafficking really is a problem.

Still, I'm anxiously awaiting to see what will actually happen in the rest of the country on January first. But this sure does give the dutch stoner some new hope.

 

[jambandphan03]

Good news indeed. We need the rest of the world to follow, the US is at a breaking point right now, we really need this to happen!! Keep sending out those positive thoughts everyone, do what you can to spread CORRECT information about cannabis, she is a very kind plant to put up with our abuse, and still want to heal us in return anyway.

 

[OhTheAgony]

I appreciate the sentiment Jamba, but with the way things are over here at the moment we're in no way an example to follow. We've just been messing about this last year frankly, and we came real close to loosing our coffeeshops all together. Unfortunately complete legalization is only a distant dream here too right now.

edit: I think this documentary sketches a pretty good image of how things work over here:

 

[djonkoman]

Mod note: This post and the posts below were moved from thread "The new Dutch government scraps the weed pass for Amsterdam!"

3 days ago, the new Dutch government scrapped the "weed pass" for Amsterdam The ban on tourists entering Amsterdam's coffee shops had been scheduled to start January 1, 2013. I've been following this story closely so I can tell you, this is unexpected good news. My 50th birthday trip to Amsterdam is back on

where did you read that? the last I heard about amsterdam was that the mayor announced that, as he interpreted the regeerakkoord, coffeeshops in amsterdam could stay open for tourists. but the minister replied he disagrees.

I do agree ith OTA tough, in the expectation that eventually a lot of this won''t be implented. they also mentioned the ban on anything over 15% thc in the regeerakkoord, but that is impossible to implement too.

 

[Crohnie]

where did you read that? the last I heard about amsterdam was that the mayor announced that, as he interpreted the regeerakkoord, coffeeshops in amsterdam could stay open for tourists. but the minister replied he disagrees.

I do agree ith OTA tough, in the expectation that eventually a lot of this won''t be implented. they also mentioned the ban on anything over 15% thc in the regeerakkoord, but that is impossible to implement too.

As I said, I've been following the story closely. I've simply been reading the Dutch press. It isn't the mayor of Amsterdam's doing. About 5 days ago, The new Dutch government decided to scrap the weed pass altogether. Long story short, tourists will be allowed in Amsterdam's coffee shops in 2013 and beyond.

 

[OhTheAgony]

I think he was referring to this, Djonko. But perhaps you read this instead yourself.

Sorry everyone, it is in dutch. Google translate might be able to help you if you want to read it though.

In short it are two contradicting news announcement that were both made on November 1st. One says Amsterdam's coffeeshops will remain open to tourists after January 1st next year, and the other one says no agreements have been made about that yet at all.

They're just gonna keep fucking with us it seems, perhaps we should just wait and see what happens next year.

 

[m0sh]

where did you read that? the last I heard about amsterdam was that the mayor announced that, as he interpreted the regeerakkoord, coffeeshops in amsterdam could stay open for tourists. but the minister replied he disagrees.

I do agree ith OTA tough, in the expectation that eventually a lot of this won''t be implented. they also mentioned the ban on anything over 15% thc in the regeerakkoord, but that is impossible to implement too.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/...-drug-ban_n_2059982.html?utm_hp_ref=marijuana

 

[djonkoman]

I think he was referring to this, Djonko. But perhaps you read this instead yourself.

Sorry everyone, it is in dutch. Google translate might be able to help you if you want to read it though.

In short it are two contradicting news announcement that were both made on November 1st. One says Amsterdam's coffeeshops will remain open to tourists after January 1st next year, and the other one says no agreements have been made about that yet at all.

They're just gonna keep fucking with us it seems, perhaps we should just wait and see what happens next year.

I read a topic on a dutch forum, where the openingspost was the article from your first link, and in a later reply something similar to your 2nd link was copy-pasted
edit: I looked up the link for that what I read, basically a much shorter version of the nu.nl link
http://www.powned.tv/nieuws/politiek/2012/11/amsterdam_voorbarig_over_wietp.html

 

[OhTheAgony]

Well, it seems you foreigners are able to visit the Amsterdam coffeeshops for another year. Not sure what happens after that though, politics still seem eager to ban foreigners from dutch coffeeshops eventually.

They got something new in Amsterdam too:

It's a new sign prohibiting the smoking of weed on school-property. This will become effective on Januari first 2013. The goal of this law is to make it easier for schools to deal with problem youth and get the police to assist them if necessary. Another goal is to bring down the number of Amsterdam coffeeshops from 225 to 150 in 2015 at the latest.

I remember there being over 400 coffeeshops in the Dam when I used to party there, good times..