After the recent elections in the Netherlands the newly forming government has proposed to stop the roll out of the awful weed pass legislation.
In the original plan the idea was for every Dutch citizen that wanted to buy weed in a coffeeshop to register themselves as a coffeeshop customer. Without this registration you would not be allowed to purchase weed. This would have meant that any non Dutch citizen wouldn’t have been able to purchase weed in a coffeeshop anymore. This proposal was met by a lot of resistance from the Dutch themselves. Who would want to be a registered drug user?
The new proposal is that the registration is no longer necessary but everyone that wants to purchase weed in a coffeeshop has to show their passport to prove that they are indeed a legal citizen of the Netherlands. Mind you, this is still in the proposal fase, no law has been passed yet.
However, there is some good news in this for all you smokers that want to come to Amsterdam!
The new proposal leaves some room for local authorities (like the municipality of Amsterdam) to create their own rules and regulations on the purchase of weed in coffeeshops by non Dutch citizens. Amsterdam’s Mayor van der Laan has said that where he is concerned there will be no restrictions on the sale of Marihuana in coffeeshops to tourists because Amsterdam does not have the same problems that other cities (mainly on the German / Belgian border) have had with the so called drug tourism from neighbouring countries.
Maastricht, where the weedpass was introduced as a test last May has said they will continue with the legislation as they say it leads to less drugs tourism and less problems with the so called drugs runners that try to intercept weed buyers and sell them hard drugs. As some Dutch media have reported, this is not necessarily true. Other cities such as Rotterdam and the Hague have sided with Amsterdam on the subject.
Because all this is still in proposal form and no final decision has been made on the subject there is no 100% guarantee that everything will stay the way it is now. Mayor van der Laan may have spoke too soon as minister for safety and justice Ivo Opstelten has claimed that the exact way and degree in which the local authorities can deviate from the legislation is “yet to be determined”.
Another proposal is to limit the strength of the weed sold in coffeeshops. Not only to tourists but to Dutch citizens as well.
TrueAmsterdam.com will keep you updated on the developments of the weed pass so check back here regularly or follow us on facebook and twitter.
