Tasty1

january 2021 - In time, foreign tourists will no longer be welcome in Amsterdam coffee shops. If it is up to Mayor Femke Halsema, the Public Prosecution Service and the police, only residents of the Netherlands will be admitted.

Editorial office Trouw 8 January 2021, 10:44
In addition to reducing the demand for soft drugs and drug tourism, the capital wants to make the cannabis market more transparent with a coffee shop label. This is to prevent the soft drug trade, which has grown significantly in recent years, from mixing with the violent hard drug environment.

Although the number of Amsterdam coffee shops has been reduced from 283 to 166 in the past twenty years, the demand for soft drugs has increased enormously. Some coffee shops saw a sales increase of 75 to 200 percent. The so-called cannabis tourists, who come to Amsterdam with cheap flights, have contributed significantly to this, according to Halsema. "We have seen that many groups of young people come to Amsterdam to visit a coffee shop."

Amsterdam, where almost 30 percent of all coffee shops in our country can be found, previously did not want the so-called resident criterion (i-criterion). Because of this ban for foreign tourists to coffee shops, the capital feared an increase in illegal street trade. However, the capital did reduce the number of coffee shops and they had to move away from schools.

Less tourists
According to Halsema, research now shows that a large number of foreign tourists indicate that they will no longer go to Amsterdam if they cannot enter a coffee shop. And although there is a chance of more trade in soft drugs on the street, this can also decrease due to the absence of tourists. “The resort of tourists has already led to an enormous increase in street trade, especially in fake dope, in recent years,” says Halsema. "If we want to do something about that, we should also have fewer potential customers."

With the plans, Halsema wants to gradually work towards national regulation of the so-called “back door” of coffee shops. For example, a quality mark for coffee shops, after Haarlem's example, should make the cannabis market less vulnerable to organized crime. For example, certified coffee shops are allowed to have a larger supply of cannabis in-house, so that couriers - who are often the target of robberies - do not have to replenish several times a day. The triangle with a maximum number of coffee shops per chain also wants to prevent undesirable monopoly positions from arising.

The triangle will later consider the precise implementation of the plans, such as enforcement and the timeframe. First, the municipal council, which according to Halsema has “traditionally” been very divided about coffee shop policy, has to find something about it. "But I don't really see an alternative solution."

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That party GreenLeft lost 50% of their votes in national elections last month. We can only hope she will lose in Amsterdam even more (i doubt it).

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