A membership card to purchase marijuana in Dutch coffee shops has come a step closer to becoming reality. The European Court of Justice has ruled that a plan by the southern Dutch city of Maastrict to introduce the card to bar foreigners from buying pot does not violate EU law.
The so-called weed pass is designed to reduce the problems caused by foreigners who come across the border to buy marijuana. But there is a lot of opposition to the plan.
Bookmark/Search this post with:
Email this Video
Printer-friendly version
The E.U. should simply change its policies and laws to allow individual member states to decide if they want to legalize cannabis. Mr. Van Schaik certainly is correct in his statement that to solve the problem is to have legal cannabis outlets in Germany and Belgium so there is no nuisance from all the tourists showing up simply to buy cannabis. The mayor of Eindhoven also has a good point in his position to legalize the supply going in the back door of the coffeeshops, too, when he says it's like saying the sale and consumption of beer is legal but breweries are not.
It's revenue you didn't have before. It's money that it's going into the black market anymore once you have a coffeeshop system functioning and an opening of business/things.
The Dutch Weedpass: Failure before introduction.
The new Dutch government wants to introduce a Weedpass for coffeeshops, for Dutch citizens only, in order to exclude foreigners from buying cannabis. The reason for this project is to stop the cannabis tourism to the Dutch cities in the border areas near Belgium and Germany.
Justice Minister Opstelten wants to introduce the Weedpass fast and first in the border cities, the rest of the country will follow, he wants to introduce the Weedpass 'nationwide'.
Nationwide introduction of the Weedpass is impossible, because only 101 of Hollands' 441 municipalities allow coffeeshops, the smokers in the 340 vilaages and towns without coffeeshops buy on the black market for decades now. The Weedpass will be for local use only, so the smokers from municipalities without coffeeshops will not be able to apply for the Weedpass, they will keep buying from streetdealers, for them, and their suppliers, nothing will change.
The only solution to get rid of the cannabis tourism in our border areas would be the introdution of cannabis outlets in Germany, Belgium, France and the UK, so they do not have to come to Dutch coffeeshops any longer. This is not a stupid proposal, and it is no longer forbidden in European politics:
http://coffeeshopnews.nl/index.php?option=com_kunena&Itemid=0&func=view&...
My guess is the EU came out with this news because of the hype around the Weedpass, and the verdict of the European Court, allowing the Dutch Weedpass technically, because drugs, including cannabis, are considered illegal in Eu contries.
http://coffeeshopnews.nl/index.php?option=com_kunena&Itemid=0&func=view&...
I think this ruling is made by looking at EU countries in general, but the Netherlanders have a right to use drugs in their country, by exercising their ' right to a rush' (RECHT OP ROES), allowing an individual to use any substance he/she chooses to explore.
The Schengen agreement states that every EU citizen has the same rights as the citizens of the EU country he/she is visiting, named as free trafficbetween EU countries and the free exchange of goods and knowledge between these countries.
If any Dutch person has the 'right to a rush', how can we deny our co-Eu citizens this right?
I bet the EU Court never even heard of this right. In Holland it is allowed to use drugs, it is illegal to sell drugs, except for the 666 tolerated cannabis coffeeshops.
The hype around the Weedpass will soon come to an end, the City Council of Maastricht, the City that was supposed to run a Weedpass pilot, rejects the Weedpass as such by minority, and will change the Local Law in order to make it impossible to introduce the Weedpass in Maastricht, ever. This means the Weedpass will pass the weed, because it will only work if all border cities introduce it, without Maastricht it makes no sense at all, all tourists would go there...
This would mean the end of a stupid scheme, because the rest of Dutch Cities with coffeeshops will not introduce the Weedpass, as most of them, like Amsterdam, did not want the pass in the first place.
I say. let the weed pass, from the Dutch coffeeshops to those who want it, from whereever they are.
I call upon the German, French and Belgium cannabis affecionados to try to open their own cannabis outlets, the EU will let you do it!
Nol van Schaik, coffeeshop entrepreneur, Haarlem, the Netherlands.
If, the Netherlands is part of the E.U., why are only citizens from the Netherlands allowed to buy marijuana "weed"? It appears the European Union does discriminate. What happens if Germany makes it a law that Dutch citizens are not allowed to buy medicines, foods, autos, and a thousand other items from Germany? The E.U. is a facist state. It deports European citizens (Roma) because they were not perfect French citizens, it restricts European citizens (Wilders)from travelling freely within the union because he used his freedom of speech to warn others of pending dangers, and now it says only a Dutch citizen can buy weed in the Netherlands. Facism at it's best and you haven't seen anything, yet. Weed is bad for your health but if you must sell it, treat all European citizens equally when it comes to buying it.
Post new comment
Please be reminded all comments must be in English, short and to the point - guideline 250 words. Abusive and inappropriate comments will be removed.