Pubdate: Sat, 24 Apr 2004
Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Copyright: 2004 The Seattle Times Company
Contact:  http://www.seattletimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/409
Author: Marcel Michelson, Reuters
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

DUTCH TRY TO CUT DRUG TOURISM

AMSTERDAM -- The government announced yesterday it will ban the sale of 
marijuana and hashish to foreigners in a border town in a pilot program 
aimed at curbing "drug tourism."

The southern town of Maastricht is just across the border from both Germany 
and Belgium.

"We want to end all aspects of drugs tourism, the fact that people come to 
the Netherlands to use soft drugs or to take them home," said Justice 
Ministry spokesman Wim Kok.

The liberal Dutch laws on soft drugs, whose use is officially illegal but 
is condoned in a tacit acknowledgment that there are insufficient police to 
arrest all offenders, have been an irritant to other European countries.

France, for instance, has complained about trains filled with stoned young 
people returning from the Netherlands.

The center-right government wants to call an end to the hordes of 
foreigners, mainly youngsters, on the streets of cities looking for one of 
the hundreds of government-regulated "coffee shops" where cannabis smokers 
can openly buy and smoke marijuana and hashish.

Coffee shops are prohibited from selling hard drugs such as heroin and are 
carefully monitored.

The Interior Ministry will work with towns and cities on ways to better 
enforce existing laws against the use of cannabis, including minimum 
distances between the so-called cannabis cafes and schools.

The Justice Ministry will attack drug tourism with international police 
cooperation and target large-scale hemp growing operations as well as the 
"criminal involvement" of so-called "grow-shops" where people can buy seeds 
to grow their own pot.

The Health Ministry, for its part, will study the possible health 
consequences of soft drugs with a high content of Tetrahydrocannabinol 
(THC), an active compound in cannabis.

This study could lead to a reclassification of the high-THC content 
cannabis as a "hard drug," spokesman Bart Kuik said.

The Netherlands, where customers can order a vast array of cannabis from 
"coffee shop" menus, has reportedly seen a steep rise in THC levels in 
Dutch-grown cannabis called "Nederwiet" due to refined growing methods.

Some doctors say cannabis use increases the risk of depression and 
schizophrenia but its use has been widely tolerated by the Dutch for decades.

The government also decided to step up public-awareness campaigns to warn 
against the dangers of soft drug use.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager