The southern Dutch city of Maastricht wants to limit by 20 percent the nuisance caused by tourists visiting the city’s cannabis coffeeshops. They hope to do this by allowing only Dutch, Belgian and German nationals into cafes where the sale of small quantities of hash and marijuana are tolerated by the Dutch authorities.
Marc Josemans, chairman of the Association of Official Coffeeshops Maastricht (VOCM), announced the plan on Thursday, saying it would reduce the number of annual visitors by half a million.
Beginning in September, Maastricht’s coffeeshops will distribute flyers notifying foreign visitors that they will not be admitted after 1 October. A media campaign will spread the news to France, Luxembourg, Italy and Spain.
The municipality said it was aware of the VOCM's plan but did not back it. It's awaiting the introduction of national policy restricting coffeeshop access to Dutch residents.
A municipality spokesperson also warned that the move may be discriminatory, specifically questioning how Maastricht’s coffeeshops could legally deny access to a Frenchman but not to a Belgian. According to the VOCM, this is legally possible.
(lo/tf)
© Radio Netherlands Worldwide
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The ban is all due to the bad behavior the foreigners coming to get high had during their short time spend in those cities. If they would have behaved better they would still be there smoking weed. I guess it can't be helped, they should be looking for replacements such as the kratom extract, which is quite awesome actually, and hope the ban expires.
Lol, the only thing Maastricht is gonne lose is a lot of legal revenue. I think it's realy funny that those 50+ "good doers" wanne have the gently wasted european Smoker changed for the good old bad ass dutch/maroccain criminals, who likes to rob little old ladys and break into those sweet little dutch houses.
But, I will visit the city, buying nice clothes and buying my weed, maybe cheaper as now from a street dealer, maybe for a little obulus by those (dutch/belgian/dutch)- guys who are gonne hang out in front of the Coffeeshop's and gonne get you some quality weed from inside.
I relocated to Holland four years ago. I thought America wasted time with idiotic legislations...but this ridiculous idea of a national 'Dutch Residents Only' access to coffeeshops is as stupid as anything the USA has done in their short history.
Maastricht is happy to announce "...it would reduce the number of annual visitors by half a million" -- Wow, that's a smart financial move. All those annual Euros going some place else!! DUH!!! Are the Dutch familiar with the word: REVENUE?
If this national charade of Dutch Residents Only legislation passes, it will result in severe changes -- and not good changes: Black Market boom, trouble in the streets, theft, robbery, growing houses on every corner. The repercussions are endless.
The current 40+ year system works relatively well. Leave it alone. Don't let a minority of 'Do-Gooders' and religious fanatics run our personal freedoms out of Holland.