You won’t have to go home, but you can’t smoke here.
The mayor of Amsterdam has made a proposal to ban non-residents from buying marijuana products at any of the city’s 166 marijuana-tolerant cafes – also known as Coffee Shops – starting in 2022. The initiative, she says, aims to dissuade foreign visitors from seeing Amsterdam as a destination for “soft drug tourism”.
“Amsterdam is an international city and we want to attract tourists – but for its wealth, beauty and cultural institutions,” wrote Mayor Femke Halsema in a recent letter to the Amsterdam city council, reports The Guardian.
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Under the new measure, only Dutch residents would be allowed to buy small amounts of marijuana in the city’s coffee shops. These regulations have been in effect in other major Dutch cities since 2013, although Amsterdam was given an exception at the time, according to the Dutch news agency NRC.
Under the new measure, only Dutch residents would be allowed to buy small amounts of marijuana in the city’s coffee shops.
(Evert Elzinga / ANP / AFP via Getty Images)
Without foreign tourists, only about 68 of the 166 coffeeshops in Amsterdam would need to continue to function to meet the demand of Dutch residents, according to a survey commissioned by the city of Amsterdam and cited by the NRC.
The new regulations, if adopted, would be introduced by a phased approach in 2022.
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Mayor Halsema’s latest proposal comes after previous initiatives to help contain the so-called “party” tourism. In 2018, authorities tried to crack down on excessive parties and bachelor parties by proposing bans on beer bicycles and boating with alcohol, partly through a campaign aimed at raising awareness about “what is allowed and – most importantly – which is not allowed in Amsterdam. “
Amsterdam’s latest proposal comes after previous initiatives to curb so-called “party” tourism and guided tours of the city’s red light district.
(Dean Mouhtaropoulos / Getty Images)
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In 2019, Halsema and Deputy Mayor Udo Kock also pushed for more restrictions on guided tours of the city’s famous red-light district.
“We are banning tours that take visitors along the windows of sex workers, not only because we want to avoid overcrowding in the red light district, but also because we are not respectful of sex workers,” said Kock at the time, for The New York Times. “It is outdated to treat sex workers as a tourist attraction.”
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Currently, international travelers are “strongly encouraged” to avoid trips to the Netherlands, unless necessary. Travelers arriving with essential business in the country must provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test result and quarantine for 10 days after arrival.
Janine Puhak of Fox News contributed to this report.