Drugs in the Netherlands

Closed shops

Why tourists in the Netherlands may have to stop smoking pot

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Readers' comments




This is absurd. For one thing, it more or less equates cannabis with hard drugs. For another, what effect do the Dutch authorities expect this to have on the nation's tourism industry? Have they thought this out? And they call POT-SMOKERS addle-headed?


If a goal is fighting organized crime, isn't it counter-productive to make these closed, private clubs? I seem to recall organized crime thriving in 1920s prohibition-era America, with its guarded "speakeasy" bars and limited competition. In contrast, a thriving and open competition should *minimize* organized crime influence by increasing transaction costs for such criminals - more market than they can corner, as it were.

Interesting (and sad) to see that logical reasoning is as poor on your side of the Atlantic as ours...


And how do the Dutch think they will maintain all those lovely tourist revenues? Seems like a really bad time to fix a part of one's economy that isn't broken...Perhaps a little more time spent hunting down pedophiles instead of this wild fixation with cannabis.

I do not support liberalization of drugs in any way or form, but to class cannabis as a drug on a par with real drugs like tobacco, cocaine...is truly quite strange. You never seem to hear about stoners mugging old ladies for money to buy weed. They also do not seem to go crazy when deprived like smokers do. Nor do they deprive themselves of food and water while high or forget to feed the baby like that terrible scene in the film trainspotting.

So I would not favor the liberalization of these drugs (tobacco, cocaine, meth,pills ....) but to get hung up about cannabis? And to through away the tourist dollars on a matter of (unfounded)principle.

Regulation of the stronger varieties the Dutch have so painstakingly produced is understandable (the 1960s weed contained about 0.4 % of cannabinoids compared to well over 14% in some modern cultivars of "skunk" - no wonder some people become a bit slow when they abuse it). Banning weed is like banning people from looking at dirty websites: publicly nobody admits to it, privately they are all doing it. And again like banning porn, it has nothing to do with drugs, or people's well being.


Furthermore I forgot to add that the government consists of more than the VVD. The other party in coalition is the Christian Democratic Party which for years and years is fighting to close down the coffeshops. (and this partyis not known for a having lot of liberal viewpoints) With the support of the mentioned rightwing party I would certainly not label this government as liberal.

To give some more balance to the article - in fact you could mention that there possible two more parties that claim to be liberals - so in any case to say that the liberals are in power is realy over simplifying the political landscape. I expect this from certain other news media not the Economist.


amazing that so called conservatives have the most desire for "input" in the form of laws on our personal lives...less government except for what individuals can "legally" do with their own bodies...hypocrite is to lax of a word for these fascists


Would just like to point out that the mentioned "liberal" party in power is not realy that liberal, as it has shifted the last few years towards a more conservative viewpoint.


What a bad idea.

To begin with, exactly where is the problem in a few tourists getting high, or the lure of criminality in supposedly small and open sales to individuals?

I small a rat that has the same odor as fundamentalists in America who are not happy unless everyone else lives according to their view of the world. Such a benign, useful, and wonderful plant as marijuana rightly scares them as it induces the opposite, an openness of mind and spirit.

When it comes to licenses I have come to take an increasingly negative view of them. More of a double-edged sword actually, as they can be useful. Such as, in example, insuring one's plumber competent enough not to flood the house. But it should also be seen that any form of license is one of the favored tools of any fascist to twist and control others. Such as these proposed 'clubs' in the Netherlands. While first excluding tourists, then they can really get down to business with a ready made list of every member at hand. Consider all the unpleasant consequences that can ensue from that.

Something unwholesome is brewing in the Netherlands, and marijuana is not the culprit.


This will take the Netherlands off of my list of places to go. Seriously. If I had the money to visit anywhere in the world I would probably go there, but since that is unlikely, if this law passes it will cause my interest in visiting to go from a 10 to a 4. Doesn't make much since unless the Dutch are trying to reduce tourism. Is that really good for their economy?


I recall the European football championship few years back, the championship was hosted by Belgium and the Netherlands together. There were failed attempts back then to close down the coffee shops for the duration of the event. Fortunately they failed so that we could compare the results. From what I recall Belgium was a place where drunken fans got into trouble. There was no such case reported from the low country. Now I challenge all the Christian-democratic variety of politicians to say why. OC knowing how silly and corrupt they are I do not expect any reasonable or informed answer. Funny how uniform they are across the borders.

Other than that - I really think that especially Amsterdam changed over the years. I used to visit it before and I do not recall all the drunken English tourists. I also recall that ladies in the exhibition windows were nicer looking back in the 90ties. I wonder if these two factors have not something to do with each other....

Patently Oblivious

Oh, come on, guys, I'm sure that just as soon as they ban all drugs, all those good family-oriented-activity tourists will flock to Amsterdam. Well, maybe after they shut down the red-light district, too. And convert that dance club that used to be a church back into a church. And close the gambling dens (which, let's be honest here, are pretty poor quality anyway). And clean up the street crime. And paint over the "naughty bits" on some of those old pictures in the museums. And ban absinthe.

Their trains already run on time, in my admittedly limited experience, so they've got that going for them.



"You'd dig it the most!!"

I can see why they're doing this sort of thing. If John Travolta showed up every other week to smoke weed and inflict "Le Big Mac" upon me, I'd require registration as well. Sam Jackson? Maybe ok... less of a troublemaker -- just chillin' out, avoiding the bacon. Filthy animals!

Also, though I live in a country where drugs are an absolute no-no (at least for the GAI-KOKU JIN, if not for the mafia), I've heard that things back in the states are loosening up quite a bit. What with online "doctors" available to "prescribe" you some medical marijuana in several states. "Oh, doc! Doc! My, my...! It's my LIVER!!! I'm an ALCOHOLIC and have ruined my LIVER!!! I need some of that sweet 455 WHITE RHINO to calm my quivering LIVER!"

The point being that the average *American* pothead may not need to go out as a drug tourist anymore.



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