Dutch government scraps "weed cards" - foreigners will still be able to smoke weed in Amsterdam's "coffee shops"

The new Dutch government has scrapped plans to issue "weed passes" to permanent Dutch residents, and require these passes in order to purchase cannabis products in Amsterdam's famed marijuana "coffee shops." Other cities will be free to ban foreigners from their own cannabis coffee shops, should they choose, but the national government will not impose this upon them.

Incoming Dutch government ditches 'weed pass' plan (via Reddit)

• [acerplatanoides]

  It’s good that the law took this hit. I’m sure people were holding their breath.

• [sam1148]

  This is good news for….oh look candy. 

• [mrtut]

  Dutch weed passes, to the left hand side.

• [rain_globule]

  “What is all this damn tourism? We need to put a stop to it!”

  • [C W]

    I’m sure this had less to do with internal forces than foreign pressure.

  • [BillStewart2012]

    There are towns along one of the Dutch borders (German?) that did want to stop cannabis tourism, because they were tired of dealing with tourists driving across the border, getting stoned, and making a nuisance of themselves.  (And while CW may find this surprising, the Dutch have their percentage of stuffy anti-fun people just like anywhere else, and stoned tourists can be almost as much trouble as drunks.)

    Also, I’ve heard that the NL banned psychedelic mushrooms because some tourist got himself killed doing something stupid while tripping; don’t know if that was just a threat or if it went through.  (Due to various anti-drug treaties, “manufacturing” drugs based on the mushrooms was illegal, even just drying them, but growing the raw mushrooms wasn’t.)

• [niktemadur]

  So our trip to Amsterdam is back on, right?

  A few years ago, my wife and I, along with a friend of ours, arrived late at night into Amsterdam from Brussels, by car.
  At an intersection in the old town, a group of people walked across in front of us, they were obviously dazed & confused and quite happy, thank you very much. Damned hippies…
  Twenty four hours later, it was THE THREE OF US walking across the same intersection, dazed & confused and quite happy, thank you very much.

  Back in the hotel room, “A Streetcar Named Desire” was on the TV.  My god, the contrast between old school mannerism (Vivien Leigh) and new school intensity (Brando) is INCREDIBLE.  Have you ever noticed that?  I hadn’t.

• [Alain Van der Eycken]

   Best News in a long time.
  Away with those crap selling criminal drugdealers along the Maas in Maastricht. Back under your rocks, creeps !
  Super !

• [Nathan Hornby]

  Stupid law, surprisingly outcome.

  Having been to Amsterdam a couple of times anyone that thinks that weed is a problem is obviously very very drunk.

  I always suspected it was outside pressure though I could be wrong.

• [Thomas Rhys Marshall]

  On the surface this seems like good news for weed tourists and coffeeshop owners, and even the Dutch press have been reporting it like this. But the actual text of the coalition agreement is quite ambiguous. In principle, drugs tourism is still prohibited under the new agreement. They’ve just moved the goalposts by requiring everyone who enters a coffeeshop present a proof of Dutch residency, instead of a pass.
  It seems like the anti-weedpass crowd (which includes the mayor of Amsterdam) are relying on a clause in the agreement which says that enforcement of this residency requirement will be phased in ‘in co-operation with local municipalities and law enforcement’. I think they’re basically hoping that the national government allows them to turn a blind eye to it. Whether that happens in practice remains to be seen.

• [Nash Rambler]

  Someone’s ears must’ve perked up and heard the steady march of tourist dollars (yeah yeah, I meant guilder. . .wait, no, I mean Euro, don’t I?) away from the city.

• [Ernesto Beckeringh]

  Don’t be too quick to start lighting them up. 
  First of all, this news probably came from remarks the Amsterdam mayor made yesterday, which have been played down already by the Dutch Justice dpt.
  Second, in event foreigners will be allowed to buy weed, the existing coffeeshops will continue to be burdened by tougher requirements (concerning quality of weed, i.e. relative THC volumes, sales to minors, proximity to schools etc), leading to more closures, while new coffeeshops will not be allowed to be established.
  But in any case this situation is a lot better than the original weed-pass plans.

• [Mike Brinn]

  Don’t knoe if the Dutch have “lobbies” like we do in the US, but i see the hand of the powerful Beer Lobby in all this.

  A friend and his wife visited Netherlands in 1967. She had tasted Häagen-Dazs ice cream, a new brand at the time, and wanted to visit the factory.  They spent a couple of weeks scouring both Holland and Denmark before discovering that it was made in the Bronx, NY.  Amazing the havoc a bit of weed and a perfect confection can wreak on travel plans.  Wouldn’t have happened if they had stuck to beer.