42 minutes ago
The new act bans any non Dutch citizen from smoking and/or possessing marijuana, and prohibits foreigners from even entering coffee shops. It also requires Dutch citizens to sign up and register for a "dope pass" allowing them to smoke and enter coffee houses.
The Netherlands previously had the world's most lenient drug policy. Marijuana was decriminalized in 1976. Habitual smokers (foreign and locals alike) could purchase cannabis at registered coffee shops and posses a small amount (about three joints worth) for "personal consumption." However, the law prohibited the sale of marijuana outside of registered coffee shops and mass cultivation of the plant.
Based off data from last year, the Dutch Government raked in approximately 700 million USD off the sales tax of cannabis from the country's 750 coffee shops. Including the economic boost in sales from hotels, restaurants, prostitution and other entities drug tourism generates, the total revenue sores into a multi-billion dollar industry.
Right winged politicians say the new act will polish the country's smoky image and clean the streets of intoxicated tourists. Left wingers state it's a violation of Holland's strong notions of individual liberty and will cost the country billions of Euros- money the country needs at the moment due to the mounting world economic crisis.
An unidentified source who visited Amsterdam in January, 2012, stated, "Yeah, the new laws are in affect. But I, as a foreigner, was still able to smoke, no problem. The question is whether how seriously cops will enforce it in the upcoming months."
