Pubdate: Wed, 12 Mar 2014
Source: Washington Times (DC)
Copyright: 2014 The Washington Times, LLC.
Contact:  http://www.washingtontimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/492
Author: Mike Corder, Associated Press
Page: A9

DUTCH LAWMAKERS TIGHTEN MARIJUANA LAWS, AS THE U.S. LOOSENS UP

Maastricht, Netherlands (AP) - A young man at a bus stop hisses at a
passer-by: "What you looking for ... marijuana?" It's a scene of
street peddling that the Netherlands hoped to stamp out in the 1970s
when it launched a policy of tolerating "coffee shops" where people
could buy and smoke pot freely.

But Maastricht's street dealers are back, local residents complain.
And the reason is a crackdown on coffee-shops triggered by another
problem: Pot tourists who crossed the border to visit the cafes and
made a nuisance of themselves by snarling traffic, dumping litter and
even urinating in the streets.

This exchange of one drug problem for another has become a headache
for Maastricht - and may give reason for pause in the U.S. states of
Washington and Colorado that recently allowed the sale of marijuana
for the first time.

The Netherlands, the world pioneer in pot liberalization, recently has
taken a harder line toward marijuana, with mixed results seen
particularly in border towns such as Maastricht.

The central government clampdown has involved banning people who live
outside the Netherlands from coffee shops, and shuttering shops that
are deemed to be too close to schools. There was even a short-lived
policy that said smokers had to apply for a "Weed Pass" to get into a
coffee shop. The new rules were rolled out across the country between
the middle of 2012 and the beginning of last year.

But while the central government made the rules, it's up to local
municipalities to enforce them - and most are embracing only part of
the policy.

Amsterdam - with some 200 licensed coffee shops, one-third of the
nationwide total - still lets foreigners visit them, although it is
closing coffee shops that are near schools.

One city that has embraced the crackdown wholeheartedly is Maastricht,
in the southern province of Limburg close to the Dutch borders with
Belgium and Germany.

Its mayor, Onno Hoes, says he enforced the legislation to halt a daily
influx of thousands of foreigners who crossed the borders to stock up
on pot at its 14 coffee shops.

That effort to end so-called "drug tourism" has been successful, local
residents say, but the flip side has been a rise in street dealers
like the man who recently tried to sell pot to an AP reporter in Maastricht.

Carol Berghmans lives close to the River Maas, whose muddy waters
bisect the city, and whose banks are frequented by dealers he sees as
he walks his dog each day.

He says there certainly were problems before the crackdown as cars
filled with pot tourists poured into the cobbled streets of central
Maastricht - but he described the atmosphere as "gezellig," a Dutch
word that loosely translates as cozy or convivial.

Since coffee shops were banned from selling to non-residents, the
numbers of foreigners has dried up. But the atmosphere in town has
turned darker as street dealers now aggressively badger any potential
clients and fight among themselves, Mr. Berghmans says.

"Now the drug runners are trying to sell on the street to anyone," he
says. "They are bothering everybody."

Maastricht city spokesman Gertjan Bos said the problem of street
dealing is not new, but concedes it has become more visible since the
city's crackdown reduced the number of drug tourists.

"We have a feeling our approach is working," Mr. Bos said, "but we do
still have to work on the street dealers."
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MAP posted-by: Matt