Seem's they are going ahead, if i was heading over i would cancel and spend elsewhere.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gWgx0D4u0qJsShzddb8EPyaM6j9w
In the clearest indication yet of its global vision for the future, the cabinet on Friday broadly adopted the advice of a committee it had appointed to help in a review of national drug policy.
Among recent steps taken to deal with these problems, Amsterdam has said it would halve its number of coffee shops, citing criminality, whole other cities are to close those within a certain radius of schools.
In the southern Limburg province, 30 coffee shops announced recently they would become private members' clubs from next year and reduce the daily limit from five to three grammes per person.
Patrons would require membership cards and a Dutch debit card to pay with, effectively cutting off tourists.
Yes, foreign tourism spending has been down for years, and it took a huge nose dive in 2009 - but the recent coffee shop closings around the borders must have put a huge dent in spending by foreign tourists in those (formerly) busy areas. That might account for the sudden drop in foreign tourism, no?I would think this is the biggest boon to street dealers as now tourists will have to buy from them, and there will be plenty on offer!
Think how many dope tourists will get ripped off or worse by these guys. Such a shame that the Dutch want to criminalize products they make lots of money on. Oh, that's right, prices go UP when that happens doesn't it?
I bet that's one reason for it. Dope tourism must be way down due to the economy, esp. in A'dam. Also the exchange rate makes it prohibitive esp. for American who have to pay like 150 euros ($220) for a decent hotel room in A'dam.
I checked his bio and he looks typical fascist. I noticed that the Maastricht coffeeshops had surveillance cameras watching customers, and were fingerprinting their customers a couple of years ago. The mayor must have been responsible for those "experiments" as well.Have my doubts that they would ever do that.
The Mayor in Maastricht is a bit of a Nazi so he decided more than a year ago to have passport scans at the entrance of every coffeeshop. There is indeed a problem with drug tourism in that area but the pass scans will not solve that.
Maastricht is close to three borders, is a small city, and has complained of being overrun by French, Belgians and Germans who come to the Dutch coffee houses. The city has also accused the foreign tourists of hard drug trafficking and other misbehavior. This has been a big issue for years, and was the reason for fingerprinting and surveillance in Maastricht.Maybe theyre just collecting information.Who knows but its not the right time in Dutch history to try to change everything.
I know Amsterdam from back in the 80´s and I really think Amsterdam lost his soul a long time ago, it´s fucked up...
grow your own and you solve your problem