The Amsterdam Herald

Cannabis cafes win compensation for loss of trade under 'wietpas' law

Details: Category: News-wietpas; Created on Wednesday, 05 June 2013 11:03; Written by Gordon Darroch

A court has ordered the Dutch government to pay compensation to coffeeshops who lost business as a result of the abandoned ‘wietpas’ law.

Coffeeshops lost 'disproportionate' amounts of business as a result of the law, a court has ruled. The district court in The Hague said the rules, which were introduced in the three southern provinces last May, represented a “disproportionate incursion into the interests of coffeeshop visitors”.

Under the law licensed cannabis cafes were turned into private clubs with an upper limit of 2000 members. Coffeeshop visitors could only buy drugs from the premises where they were registered as a member.

Three-quarters of Dutch cannabis cafes will turn blind eye to official ban on tourists

Details: Category: News-wietpas; Created on Monday, 31 December 2012 22:29; Written by Amsterdam Herald

Picture by Amsterdam Herald/targetmap.com

Well over half of Dutch coffeeshops will continue to admit tourists from January 1 despite an official government ban on non-residents.

Our TargetMap illustrates where tourists will be allowed to visit coffeeshops in the Netherlands from 2013. A survey by The Amsterdam Herald found more than a dozen municipalities are not planning to enforce the rule that customers must show evidence that they live in the Netherlands.

The mayor of Amsterdam, which has 220 coffeeshops – around one-third of the total – has already stated publicly that visitors will not be turned away.

Justice minister abandons 'wietpas' plan to restrict entry to coffeeshops

Details: Category: News-wietpas; Created on Monday, 19 November 2012 23:09; Written by Amsterdam Herald

Photo by Veiligheid en Justitie (official photo)

The Dutch government has formally abandoned plans to turn coffeeshops into members-only clubs – but foreigners will still officially be barred from entering.

Concern: Justice minister Ivo Opstelten acknowledged that street dealing had become a problem. The scrapping of the controversial ‘wietpas’ followed widespread criticism of the measure in the three southern provinces where it has been in force since May 1.

Instead visitors to cannabis cafes will have to show ID and provide evidence that they live in the country, in order to preserve the right-wing Liberal (VVD) Party’s aim of cutting out the cross-border trade.

Police raid Maastricht coffeeshops after owners let tourists back in

Details: Category: News-wietpas; Created on Tuesday, 07 May 2013 11:07; Written by Amsterdam Herald

Photo by Amsterdam Herald

Police have raided several coffeeshops in Maastricht after their owners indicated they would revert to selling soft drugs to foreign visitors.

It is the first time police have intervened to enforce the new regulations banning tourists from coffeeshops. Local news service L1 reported that around 10 busloads of officers visited the Mississippi, a floating cannabis café moored on Wilelminakade, at about 9pm on Monday.

Around 15 non-Dutch residents were inside the boat at the time, in contravention of new laws designed to reduce so-called drugs tourism. Police led away the owner and confiscated the ship’s supplies.

Amsterdam to outlaw smoking joints in schoolyards and playgrounds

Details: Category: News-wietpas; Created on Wednesday, 12 December 2012 10:15; Written by Amsterdam Herald

Photo by nadiology

Schoolchildren in Amsterdam who smoke marijuana in the playground will be breaking the law when a city-wide ban comes into force next year.

The city is the first to formalise the prohibition of soft drugs in schools. It marks the first time in the Netherlands that a specific ban on recreational drug use in schools will have legal force.

“Although many schools already enforce a soft drugs policy on or around the grounds, they need the backing of the law,” said city mayor Eberhard van der Laan.