01/06/2007 01:00:00
Europe: New Restrictions on Some Dutch Cannabis Coffee Shops
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The Dutch government's tougher line on Holland's famous marijuana coffee
shops is taking a toll. In Rotterdam, nearly half of the city's coffee
shops will have to shut down because they are too near to secondary
schools. Meanwhile, in the border city of Maastricht, where "drug
tourists" from neighboring countries with more repressive pot laws flood
into town to score, the local coffee shop association announced this
week it will begin requiring fingerprint scans of all customers.
Holland currently has more than 700 coffee shops, down substantially
from a peak of around 1,500. The coffee shops are much criticized by
Holland's neighbors, and the current Dutch government would like to see
them go away. Now, if a coffee shop shuts down it cannot be replaced by
another. But the coffee shops retain popular support, at least in part
because of the huge revenues they generate -- an estimated $1.5 billion
per year.
According to the Dutch news agency ANP, the move to restrict coffee
shops in Rotterdam arose from concern about rising use of marijuana by
school pupils and the problems caused by its sale and use. As a result,
the city has decided to ban coffee shops within 200 yards of secondary
schools. That means 27 Rotterdam coffee shops will be forced out of
business.
In Maastricht, coffee shop owners are self-regulating to avoid violating
Holland's famed tolerance policy regarding marijuana. Under the measure
announced this week, they will begin fingerprinting customers and
scanning their IDs beginning late this summer.
"This is not something that we are doing willingly, but with pain in our
hearts," said Marc Josemans, head of the Union of Maastricht's Coffee
Shops. "We're very afraid we're going to lose customers over this, and
to be honest we're even a little ashamed we're doing it, but the City of
Maastricht has such harsh punishments that we don't feel we have any
choice," he told the Associated Press.
Coffee shops are licensed to sell up to five grams of marijuana per
customer per day. They may not sell to anyone under 18, nor may they
permit drugs other than cannabis on the premises. Since Maastricht Mayor
Gerd Leers took office in 2002, police have strictly enforced the rules,
resulting in the closing of 11 of the city's 26 coffee shops.
According to Josemans, the fingerprinting and ID scan will be tested at
his coffee shop in August and will be in place in all Maastricht coffee
shops by September. Attempting to assuage privacy concerns, Josemans
said the fingerprints would be coupled with a digital photo and a scan
of the customer's ID card, with all information except date of birth
removed. The fingerprints would not be of a quality to help police, he said.
The information would be stored at each coffee shop. "We're not going to
give this information to anybody else, and we're not linked to each
other or the Internet," Josemans said.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/488/new_restrictions_dutch_cannabis_coffee_shops_marijuana
Source:
http://www.ukcia.org/news/shownewsarticle.php?articleid=12573
Author:
Drug War Chronicle via UKCIA
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