End of weed tourism to the Netherlands?
'The Dutch Cabinet late last month said the measure was needed to "reduce nuisance and drugs tourism,"'
Apologies for CNN link.
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Wet-chinned bag shanker Cannot parse Wogan, Wed 8 Jun 2011, 13:19,
Reply)
this is going to be interesting with the E.U
so whats to stop another country saying: "our hospitals are over-run by tourists" from now on our hospitals are only for locals...
or we refused to sell alcohol to people from muslim countries...
this is what happens when you vote in a right wing goverment...silly short term ideas to combat longterm problems
(, Wed 8 Jun 2011, 13:23, Reply)
I don't blame them
Based on the absolute displays of cuntishness from mainly British tourists I saw last time I was there
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Rebel biscuit stercore sumus et nos esse novimus, Wed 8 Jun 2011, 14:37,
Reply)
yeah but thats normally the piss-heads...
stoners just fall asleep.
(, Wed 8 Jun 2011, 14:55, Reply)
I live in Amsterdam
And the British are the most well behaved and polite groupd of tourists you will ever meet..
(Edit) Wtf was I smoking earlier!!
The British are the scum of the earth when they come here, the red light zone is like a war zone some nights. I have a mate who lives on the main strip of the red light and I hate going to see him, like most "Amsterdammers" we avoid this area like the plague, the whole area that 99% of the tourists see - we avoid.
I hate having to escort friends and family round the area when they come to visit, I have a boat so i zoom them down the main drag a few times and never set foot on land there.
Just one km away in any direction of those areas are nice pleasant bars/cafes/coffeeshops that tourists will never normally see but if they do stumble upon them are treated on the whole really well.
So my advice if you want to go, Amsterdam is a tiny place, look for hotels outside the center, hire a bike, explore the neighbourhoods more and keep out of the main red light areas at night all the people there are tourists too not real Dutch people.
(, Wed 8 Jun 2011, 15:29, Reply)
theres a lovely coffee shop called barneys
its a little bit away from the centre bit, not much, but when ever i have been there ive always got chatting to the staff and they have always told me theres 2 types of british; the ones you exactly described, stag dos and sleaze-cruises, and then the other kind, that comes in with their friends sits down smokes a load of weed and dont cause any trouble...
but being in the latter group, i get ashamed when i see how other brits behave in your city...
(, Wed 8 Jun 2011, 18:16, Reply)
They have a few shops now I think..
I think you may have been in the Harlemmerstraat branch, they have two shops next door to each other there and have vapourisers on the counter for free use.
I used to live a couple more streets further down the road from there, it turns into an old squat neighbourhood further on, lived over there for 5 years and loved it, so many alternative types and squats over there.
(, Wed 8 Jun 2011, 20:15, Reply)
Nooooooooooooooooooooooo
Wait...what? *takes another lungful*
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Fray Brentos *mega-belms*, Wed 8 Jun 2011, 13:24,
Reply)
Speaking of being high ...
I have a free ticket to see Grandmaster Flash DJing on Friday.
Anyone seen him before? Is it worth going? Or will it be a crushing disappointment when he inevitably doesn't play White Lines and Rapper's Delight back to back for three hours?
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Wet-chinned bag shanker Cannot parse Wogan, Wed 8 Jun 2011, 13:30,
Reply)
if your a fan of real-hip-hop
then just go to be in the same room as him.
if your a club head...maybe just go to your normal club.
(, Wed 8 Jun 2011, 13:37, Reply)
Thish ish a local coffee shop for local people!
There'sh nothing for you here!
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Butters and his titanium codsocket, Wed 8 Jun 2011, 13:51,
Reply)
I live in Amsterdam have done for ten years..
Buying and smoking weed is legal in Holland ?
Like most forrins I thought great its legal here right? Wrong..
There is no actual law for it, its "Tolerated" but there are laws about possession and cultivation.
Every coffee shop owner is breaking laws on a daily basis though..
They have licenses to sell stuff that's ileagle, its actually illeagle for them to stock the shop in the first place. An owner could be picked up in the street and done for possession if they are stocking up their shop even though he owns the shop and license.
Each shop has a limit of how many grams can be stored in the shop (think its 60 grams - not 100% sure) and this limit basically makes unworkable especially in a downtown Amsterdam shop that could sell kilos a day.
I have been in a shop when the police rolled in with portable fingerprint scanners and digital scales and searched everyone and took details. The shop was closed down for two weeks for having too much behind the counter.
Why did this happen? a week before the police had to come to break a fight outside (not the first time) so they decided to crack down on them using the full power of the law, their "toleration"ran out.
Just like in the UK you can done for possession of even a joint, you speak to a cop the wrong way and piss them off and yes in Holland you can get fined for even one joint.
Cultivation -Its legal to grow some plants isn't it? they "Tolerate" you to be able to grow 5 plants in your garden.
The same law applies here for possession when its dry and bagged up. So you could get a kilo or more from the 5 plants but then be breaking the possession law.
They "tolerate" around 30 grams in your house - so in effect if you get complained about the police could roll in and take a kilo from you and leave you with 30 grams and confiscate the plants and any seeds you have.
I have fallen fowl of this law myself, I had twenty plants on my roof garden. One of my kind neighbours made a complaint to the local beat bobby and one Sunday morning at 8am I had 6 cops (with guns) at my front door demanding access to the roof. Stupidly I let them in because I was in a hungover state, I should have held out and let them get a warrant, they asked me to choose which 5 I wanted to keep and snapped the others in half and took them away with them. I got a written ticket for this, no fine no police record but a stern ticking off by the head cop, I just played the stupid forrin and told them I thought you could have 20 plants not 5 and they let me off with a proper charge, I guess if i was an asshole to them about it all they could have used the law on me resulting in a record and a fine.
Seeds - Its totally legal to sell seeds in shops isn't it? yes they seed companies operate under strict licenses and they have legally sanctioned grow rooms.
So the point in all of this to me is this, if they bring in this weed pass for Dutch nationals only it will have to have a law behind it. Weed then by the back door becomes legal.
Also each city council will be able to vote to uphold this law or not, so of course Amsterdam city council will vote no and forrins will be "tolerated" to be able to buy weed again.
So maybe its not such a bad thing, it could be that the govt have dropped the ball here and do not realise what they are actually doing. I saw a minister on the TV the other talking about this topic and he was totally ignorant of the current laws and "toleration's" so we are hoping that this guy had a good say as to what these new laws are about - if so it could be really a WIN! that is not expected.
(, Wed 8 Jun 2011, 15:16, Reply)
If the rest of Europe pulled its finger out
and had the same toleration laws then this wouldn't be a problem
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sPUNKer do your pictures for nothing get abuse for free, Wed 8 Jun 2011, 15:52,
Reply)
I agree but..
The EU tide is against Holland in all of this.
They want the same rules to govern each EU state and Holland is the only one "tolerating" like this.
Belgium and Germany really want to make this happen on this specific topic because they are sick of people driving across the borders to get weed. They have special weed police patrolling the border crossings looking for suspects, I have been searched a couple of times on both sides of the border and also once on a train going to Berlin.
(, Wed 8 Jun 2011, 16:12, Reply)