Monday, October 10, 2022

Ambivalence on recreational cannabis in Amsterdam

 The Guardian has the story:

Amsterdam considers banning ‘cannabis tourists’ from its coffee shops. Fed up with stoned visitors and worried by hard-drug criminality, the mayor wants to clean up the city. But will it work? by Senay Boztas

Here's one bit that suggests that ambivalence is widespread, and baked into current regulations.

"In April, in a 13-page policy proposal, the mayor asked for the council’s support to temporarily enforce the residents-only law, largely because of concerns about the “criminal back door” of the coffee shops. Smoking and possessing weed for personal consumption are “tolerated”, but commercial growing is not – so coffee shops must buy from criminals. An influential 2019 report on the capital’s “dark side” suggested revisiting the residents-only rule to help tackle this “urban jungle”.


No comments: