Petition to ban tourists from Amsterdam
coffeeshops not passed by council
Politics Society December 4, 2020 - By Senay
Boztas
A citizens’
initiative to ban tourists from coffee shops has not been passed by Amsterdam
council because only the mayor can make a ruling on this subject. In recent
months, residents, businesses and tourists organisations have called for
measures to change the image of Amsterdam in the eyes of tourists. According to
Geerte Udo, director of Amsterdam&partners marketing agency, around a fifth
of tourists visit to take drugs and ogle prostitutes and ‘those we can do
without.’ Although a national law says that only Dutch residents can buy
cannabis from the shops, Amsterdam has never enforced the ruling. When national
drug laws were tightened up, in 2013, there were concerns that drug dealing
would be driven onto the streets and create more nuisance. A motion this year
from the VVD party to enforce this so-called ‘i-criterium’ did not get enough
support to pass the council, and the citizen’s initiative does not qualify for
a council vote, but the debate has increased the pressure on mayor Femke
Halsema to come up with a plan to reduce nuisance linked to drug tourism.
Earlier this year, she told councillors she wants to ‘reduce the pulling power’
of cannabis on tourists, and crack down on criminality. Currently, cannabis is
supplied to shops illegally – because commercial growing is prohibited – but
then sale of the product is permitted under a convention of ‘tolerance’. Don
Ceder, a ChristenUnie councillor who has been prominent in campaigning for
regulation of the coffeeshops, said that the citizens’ initiative could not be
voted in for technical reasons but it showed that there are growing concerns.
‘It is necessary to radically change the image of Amsterdam because currently
we are seen as the capital of cannabis,’ he said. ‘This initiative came from
citizens and there is a bigger coalition of citizens, politicians and
businesses who want to tackle this issue.’ He said that he expects the mayor’s
analysis of the situation and the pros and cons of regulating coffeeshops to be
shared in December and to be discussed by the council in January. Robbert
Overmeer, a local businessman and one of the drivers behind the petition, said
that the council should seriously analyse the costs and advantages of
coffeeshops, which do not pay VAT on their products. ‘They do not give anything
to the city [in terms of cash] but cause a lot of problems in policing and
nuisance,’ he said. ‘Amsterdam is a very popular place to come and smoke, but
we don’t want this any more and enforcing the i-criterium rule would be a quick
win.’ The coffeeshops association, the Bond van Cannabis Detaillisten, however,
strongly opposes more regulation of coffeeshops saying that it would drive the
trade onto the streets and increase nuisance around the city. A spokesman for
the Amsterdam mayor said that the mayor will make a proposal to the council
around December 15, but is still working out the details.
Read more
at DutchNews.nl:
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