Amsterdam new laws???

dw123

Just seen afew news websites saying tourists will be banned from coffee shops over there from the 1st of January 2012, Anybody have any information on this?

Me and a few friends are heading over there in January for my birthday to "explore" and would like to know the deal with the coffee shops?


thanks

dr.bollocko

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/15/netherlands-coffee-shops-marijuana-tourists_n_1095231.html

Suggests you may be out of luck.

MOH

As far as I know the ban is being introduced in the southern, border areas of the country from next January, and then potentially extended to the rest of the country from the following January (2013) - so you should be OK in Amsterdam next January.

There's been some big problems in border towns over the last few years with massive numbers of people coming in, and some anti-social issues.

monty_python

it wont happen in amsterdam until 2015 if ever.;)
the thing you need to worry about is the new 15% thc law
have a read of the thread linked below and read the forum for tips of what to do and where to go in amsterdam

http://coffeeshopdirect.info/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=18310

monty_python

just to clarify that i was talking about amsterdam and not holland as a whole

eurofoxy

the ban does not cover amsterdam, its only in maastricht and other areas of limburg, the provence in the south of holland,
It was introduced there as there is a huge problem with drug running in the area and it is seen as the solution to the problem.
The other side of the problem is as the op suggests drug tourism, its usually no problem and people tend to do less when on drugs than drunk but there have been some very high profile suicides in recent years by drug tourists. which is why the mayor of maastricht decided to try this out, it is only a trial run as the original plan was to ban coffee shops from the high street and condemn them to outside the town limits, but this was seen as too far so they decided to try this way, if you have a dutch/belgian/german passport you can buy weed but only small amounts, all other passport holders are not allowed to buy drugs.
I live here and am from clare originally, but i have an id card issued by the dutch government so i of course could buy if i wanted to.

If you want the links to the dutch newspaper just pm me...

dw123

Thanks for the reply's guys now i finally get whats happening.. Hopefully theres nothing passed in amsterdam before january!:p

thanks everyone