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Herb Ninja

Call to legalise commercial cannabis crops

3-14-2005 | Expatica

AMSTERDAM — Maastricht Mayor Gerd Leers has called for the toleration of soft drugs in the Netherlands to be extended to the production and supply of cannabis in a bid to reduce crime.

Presently, both possession and the sale of cannabis at so-called "coffee shops" is tolerated, but the production of marijuana and the supply to coffee shops is banned.

Leers said the ban on the cultivation and supply of cannabis leadvertisers.com]advertise[/url]rs.com]ads[/url] to criminality, news agency ANP reported on Sunday. Small-scale cannabis cultivation for private use is already tolerated.

Tolerating commercial production would decriminalise the industry and police resources would therefore be freed up for other tasks, he said.

But Leers also warned that extended toleration should be accompanied by greater inspections on the amount and quality of the drugs.

Leers said drugs cannot be eliminated and should therefore be legalised and controlled. But he said legalisation could only occur in a European context.

Opening up of the cannabis market could thus only occur if Maastricht's neighbouring councils in Belgium and Germany also co-operated. This would give a definite signal to The Hague and Brussels.

Leers comments come in the lead-up to a cannabis conference in Maastricht in April, to be attended by the southern Dutch city's neighbouring councils. Drug tourists often cross the border to avail of the Dutch coffee shop policy.

And Leers' proposal is in contrast to his hard-line stance against trailer parks. These parks often operate as "free states" where people can live almost tax free and are frequently the site of cannabis plantations.

He also said during a visit to the US last month with other politicians and city mayors that the Netherlands was no longer the land where everything is allowed.

Leers said tolerance is okay, but only works within well defined parameters that must be carefully guarded.

Asserting that the Netherlands was getting tougher, Leers said it was never too late to clean up your own rubbish. He said the US needed to know the Dutch were no "softies" when it comes to drugs.

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"Truth is treason in an empire of lies." -Ron Paul

 

solutions

Ah yes, The Battle of Maastricht may turn out very interesting. I was wondering if this got any attention outside of the Netherlands.

On one side we have Justice Minister Donner who would like to see a further reduction of coffeeshops in general and a ban for non-Dutch residents to enter coffeeshops in the border regions [note: Amsterdam is not a border region], on the other side are the muncipalities who want to legalize commercial cultivation and serve the cannabis-tourists from neighbouring countries in "drive through" coffeeshops on their borders.

Leers' comments are significant as he is a member of the same party as Donner (Christen-Democrat CDA) and his Maastricht is scheduled to be the testcase for a Dutch-residents-only policy in her 15 licensed coffeeshops.

The experiment has not passed the Maastricht City Council yet. One of the conditions for Maastricht is that the Justice Department will be liable for any legal procedures and claims. In contrast to the Justice Department, the Maastricht Council expects that discriminating residents from other EU countries will not be tolerated by the European Court.

Mayor Leers wants 'the rest' to adapt to the Dutch drug policy, or else 'the Netherlands would have to adapt to theirs'.

Maastricht expects a significant liberalisation in European coffeeshop policy in the future. In a publication on local soft drug policies titled "accelerating the coffeeshop policy" that was released earlier this month Leers wrote that "these developments cannot be stopped [...] In the future there may no longer be a distinction between alcohol and drugs. These stimulants will be completely accepted"

At present a majority in the Maastricht Council favors relocating coffeeshops from the city centre to the outskirts to reduce nuisance from tourism.

[source: NRC Handelsblad 14/4/05, translated and edited for mj.com]

I'm sure our American friends were quite impressed

Peace

__________________
3 monkeys sitting under a coconut tree
discussing things as they are set to be
Said one to the other, now listen you two
there's a strange rumor that can't be true
they say man was descended from our noble race
but the very idea is a big disgrace
no monkey ever deserted his wife
or her baby to ruin their lives.
Damian Marley - Educated Fools

killer12382

GW isn't going to like this.....time for a regime change....the Dutch people need to be free.....here comes the 82nd Airborne. (I'm joking but I'm sure there are people in government that would welcome such an attack)

vladimir

i thought that maastricht was one of the cities that was considering banning foreigners from buying weed, and relocating the coffeeshops to the outskirts of the city. in general, i got a feeling that maastricht was becoming more conservative on the weed issue, so this is great news for the weed liberalization in the netherlands, and therefore the whole world.

__________________
If a drug (or technique or process) were ever to be discovered which would consistently produce a plus four experience in all human beings, it is conceivable that it would signal the ultimate evolution, and perhaps the end of, the human experiment.

reggie_the_dog

"Leers' comments are significant as he is a member of the same party as Donner (Christen-Democrat CDA) and his Maastricht is scheduled to be the testcase for a Dutch-residents-only policy in her 15 licensed coffeeshops."

This ban would not cover anyone who was a resident or citizen of a country other than the EU countries. I live in France but I have a US passport and an Illinois drivers liscence (as well as a French drivers permit). If this experiment ever gets started they will ban my French friends from buying in the shops but I will be able to buy. Also the idea of moving the coffeeshops from downtown is not supported by many people in the tourism industry. You take the train to downtown and there are coffeeshops in 10 minutes on foot. If they relocate they will have to make a bus route to go to the coffeeshops. Also many other businesses in downtown like cannabis tourists because we tend to get hungry and eat in other restaurants, we buy tourist souvenirs, we rent bicycles, we go canoieng etc.... I am looking to go back to Maastrich in June. Cafe Kosbar is the best coffeeshop in town, hell in the whole Netherlands in my opinion. Check out the guide at www.coffeeshop.freeuk.com/

 

solutions

I'm not sure if that is correct. The proposed ban hasn't been approved by the Maastricht city council yet so the details aren't clear, but what I heard all non-Dutch residents would face this ban, not just other EU citizens.

Mayor Leers from Maastricht has published his opinion on the Maastricht.nl website titled "the inevitable European route towards regulating softdrugs" ... it's a very interesting piece. A few quotes:

"the production of hemp should be regulated Euregionally - not tolerated! - so that organized crime and home cultivation can be reduced .... the time is ripe to work with our foreign neighbouring regions towards regulating the soft-drug policy. The (government in the) Hague should stick her neck out for this abroad. If she doesn't dare to do that, she should be consistent and rigorously abandon the Dutch toleration-policy"

He goes on about the disaster with alcohol prohibition in the USA, enabeling Capone to earn his fortune, he mentions the problems in the Maastricht region: sharing 8 kilometers of border with the rest of the Netherlands versus 220 kilometers of border with germany and belgium, the 1,5 million foreign drug tourists visiting Maastricht a year and the 100+ illegal "kilo-houses" where more than the 5 gram coffeeshop limit of cannabis and hard drugs can be bought, the drug related liquidations (6 in the first 3 months of 2005).

Here's a picture of Mayor Leers from the city's website.. so that there's no doubt what "side" he is on: