cannabisnews.com: Dutch Try To Cut Drug Tourism





Dutch Try To Cut Drug Tourism
Posted by CN Staff on April 24, 2004 at 08:21:42 PT
By Marcel Michelson, Reuters
Source: Seattle Times 
Amsterdam -- The government announced yesterday it will ban the sale of marijuana and hashish to foreigners in a border town in a pilot program aimed at curbing "drug tourism." The southern town of Maastricht is just across the border from both Germany and Belgium. "We want to end all aspects of drugs tourism, the fact that people come to the Netherlands to use soft drugs or to take them home," said Justice Ministry spokesman Wim Kok.
The liberal Dutch laws on soft drugs, whose use is officially illegal but is condoned in a tacit acknowledgment that there are insufficient police to arrest all offenders, have been an irritant to other European countries. France, for instance, has complained about trains filled with stoned young people returning from the Netherlands. The center-right government wants to call an end to the hordes of foreigners, mainly youngsters, on the streets of cities looking for one of the hundreds of government-regulated "coffee shops" where cannabis smokers can openly buy and smoke marijuana and hashish. Coffee shops are prohibited from selling hard drugs such as heroin and are carefully monitored. The Interior Ministry will work with towns and cities on ways to better enforce existing laws against the use of cannabis, including minimum distances between the so-called cannabis cafes and schools. The Justice Ministry will attack drug tourism with international police cooperation and target large-scale hemp growing operations as well as the "criminal involvement" of so-called "grow-shops" where people can buy seeds to grow their own pot. The Health Ministry, for its part, will study the possible health consequences of soft drugs with a high content of Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), an active compound in cannabis. This study could lead to a reclassification of the high-THC content cannabis as a "hard drug," spokesman Bart Kuik said. The Netherlands, where customers can order a vast array of cannabis from "coffee shop" menus, has reportedly seen a steep rise in THC levels in Dutch-grown cannabis called "Nederwiet" due to refined growing methods. Some doctors say cannabis use increases the risk of depression and schizophrenia but its use has been widely tolerated by the Dutch for decades. The government also decided to step up public-awareness campaigns to warn against the dangers of soft drug use. Source: Seattle Times (WA)Author: Marcel Michelson, ReutersPublished:  Saturday, April 24, 2004 Copyright: 2004 The Seattle Times CompanyContact: opinion seatimes.comWebsite: http://www.seattletimes.com/Related Articles:Cabinet Moves To Ban Super-Strong Cannabis http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18614.shtmlDutch Coffeeshops Face Ban on Strong Cannabis http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18594.shtmlDutch Government to Weigh Cannabis Clamp Down http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18593.shtml
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Comment #8 posted by jose melendez on April 25, 2004 at 09:27:14 PT
tokin' justice is why
"Why then, are democratic governments (especially ours) resisting the will of the people? "Because our 'leaders' are paid to ignore harms caused by their special interests and top contributors: Dan Gillmor eJournal: E-Voting Machines Get Official Thumbs Downhttp://weblog.siliconvalley.com/column/dangillmor/archives/010299.shtml#010299Gillmor was interviewed on National Public Radio April 22, 2004http://www.npr.org/dmg/audioplayer.php?prgCode=DAY&showDate=22-Apr-2004&segNum=8see also: Shielding the People from What We Need to See http://weblog.siliconvalley.com/column/dangillmor/archives/010296.shtml#010296Wage peace.
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Comment #7 posted by John Tyler on April 25, 2004 at 06:33:38 PT
the will of the people
It is obvious that a whole lot of people enjoy using cannabis products. The economic "critical mass" has been reached a long time ago. Why then, are democratic governments (especially ours) resisting the will of the people? 
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Comment #6 posted by drfistusa on April 24, 2004 at 15:19:10 PT
just a token move
Holland is a small country with good trains, so they may close some border towns for cannabis sales, no problem 5 min. down the road there is another town with cannabis cafes, they don't seem to mention Venlo which is on the German-Dutch border very popular with Germans with Lots of cafes . this just to placate the French.
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Comment #5 posted by BGreen on April 24, 2004 at 13:22:31 PT
This Dutch Gov't is Corrupt for Following U.S.
Former Dutch Prime Minister Says U.S. Is Rogue StateFormer Prime Minister Dries van Agt said (in tv-news Nova - video only in Dutch) that the Dutch government should bring back its troops from Iraq as soon as possible, not because of the danger but because they are participating without any UN mandate in an illegal occupation. He also said that the US and Israel 'repeatedly and seriously' breach international law and calls the US a rogue state. He said Bush's support for Israel is 'irresponsible and unjust'.Soon the Dutch government and parliament will have to decide whether the troops will remain in Iraq or not.© 2004 http://radio.weblogs.com/0116902/2004/04/23.html#a2359
Former Dutch Prime Minister Says U.S. Is Rogue State
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Comment #4 posted by mamawillie on April 24, 2004 at 09:49:10 PT
Eating their own
It is like sitting here watching the Dutch eat their own. The "drug tourism" has never caused many problems... some, yes of course, but nothing major as far as I've read.They are deliberately and knowingly attacking revenue in these cities. Why would they eat their own?Mama
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Comment #3 posted by E_Johnson on April 24, 2004 at 08:41:57 PT
Why don't they do this to alcohol users
Because alcohol users get violent when they're crossed, and potheads don't.That's why they get away with doing this stuff to us -- because pot doesn't make us violent like alcohol makes its users, and alcohol users get violent when crossed.Drunks are so hard to control -- notice how our society tends to leave them alone a lot.Maybe our biggest problem is that pot doesn't make people violent like alcohol does.Think of it -- the one drug that causes the most violence in its users is the most tolerated drug in the political system.Maybe that's not in spite of the vioence, but because of it.That's not, by the way, a suggestion for us to change our ways. We carry the moral high ground here and I'm intent on holding on to it.Thank heavens pot doesn't make us act like the people holding us down.
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Comment #2 posted by JR Bob Dobbs on April 24, 2004 at 08:41:16 PT
Huh?
>>France, for instance, has complained about trains filled with stoned young people returning from the Netherlands.And they would prefer their citizens drive drunk or something?
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on April 24, 2004 at 08:26:22 PT
Brazil, Legalize Drugs, Now! 
Brazzil - Issue - April 2004 
 This is a twelve-point proposal to legalize drugs in Brazil. Decriminalization of narcotics use and legalization of their production may be the only viable way to fight Rio's drug problem efficiently and peacefully. These issues apply not only to Rio, but also to the United States and Canada. Rio de Janeiro has recently seen some difficult moments in a narcotraffic turf war whose center stage this time was Rocinha, South America's largest and most developed favela slum. Five consecutive nights over Easter weekend pitted two rival gangs and police in a battle for possession of the heights of the favela, which happens to sit atop a mountain neighboring two of Rio's poshest districts. Under the morro runs the Gávea-to-Barra highway tunnel, one of the city's major thruways. The bottom row of the favela's houses literally leans over the tunnel entrance. A dozen persons died in the violence, including Rocinha's top drug lord, who was killed by police.Complete Article: http://www.brazzil.com/2004/html/articles/apr04/p130apr04.htm
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