Dutch Seek To End 'Drug Tourism'

For those of you who thought it might be worth it to be screened and patted-down by the TSA for your trip to the Netherlands, just so long as you could sit in a “coffee shop” and get stoned without threat of a legal hassle, here’s some bad news. In an effort to curb so-called “drug tourism,” the Dutch government is looking to limit the sale of cannabis to residents only.

Some cities and towns along the Belgian border have already passed ordinances that would forbid non-Dutch from purchasing cannabis or hash at coffee shops, and the new national government believes that these regulations should be made nationwide.

“No tourist attractions. We don’t like that,” the Dutch minister for security and justice said earlier this week in an interview. “The heart of the problem is crime and disturbances surrounding the sale. We have to go back to what it was meant for: local use for those who would like it.”

From Reuters:

The government’s plans for a tourist ban, whereby only holders of a resident’s pass would be allowed to buy hash, has not yet been formally put into law and no timeframe has been proposed.

Dutch govt seeks tourist ban in cannabis shops [Reuters]

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