Dutch City Bans Cannabis Tourists
October 2, 2011Dutch media reported a very strange situation that is playing out in Holland.
The southern Dutch city of Maastricht, which is a border town in close proximity to Belgium and Germany, has put into force a ban on tourists from visiting cannabis coffeeshops in the city.
City authorities claim that the large number of tourists coming into town to buy cannabis is causing mayhem in the form of public disorder and traffic disruption, with about 6,000 daily cannabis coffeeshop visitors mostly coming from nearby Belgium and Germany.
Strangely though, the ban does not apply to Belgian or German tourists, who are the ones supposedly causing the problems! Only people who don't hold a Dutch, German, or Belgian passport are banned.
At the peak there were approximately 1,200 cannabis coffeeshops in Holland, but after the government started its crusade against cannabis closing many coffeeshops down, there are only 700 coffeeshops left operating today, mostly in Amsterdam.
The Maastricht ban is seen as a test case which may be implemented across the country.
