So the Weed pass thing? and your thoughts?

[joossy]

“There is good news for all the cannabis connoisseurs who like to visit Amsterdam and enjoy the wide variety of product that is available from the Dutch capital’s many coffee shops. The Dutch Tolerance Policy, that provides the legislation under which the Dutch coffee shops can operate, was renewed on 1st July 2011 and will be valid until June 30th, 2015.” This means that the feared ‘weedpass,’ a card only available to Dutch citizens that would factually ban foreigners from buying product at coffee shops, can only be implemented through local legislation. Since city councils like Amsterdam do not want the weedpass scheme, this means it will not be possible to implement it for at least 4 years during which visitors from abroad can still freely and openly buy product from Dutch coffee shops.

Ok so what do Grey Area have to say?

“Local residents, especially in Amsterdam, are not in favor of this plan,” said Jon Foster, owner of the Grey Area Coffeeshop since 1994. “Economically and socially, the effect of the plan would be, over all, negative. The common belief is that only a small number of coffeeshops in Amsterdam would be able to remain open if the tourists would not be allowed. Most importantly is the fact, however, that the system will not be implemented in Amsterdam.”

“The policy shift would turn the clock back on the experiment of coffee shops. There will be a rise in street and home dealings, which would blur the successful separation of soft and hard drugs. All income from the sale of soft drugs would be injected into the criminal world and the government would lose a large amount of tax revenue. A successful program, which has diminished long term usage of cannabis by Dutch people, would be ended. Youth will be more curious than ever about cannabis as it will become something that was successfully allowed for over 30 years, and then not allowed. Prohibition has negative consequences,” Foster added.

“The concept of the pass system is absolutely a bad idea,” said Foster. “The most damaging part of this proposal is the negative effect of foreign media reporting consistently and repeatedly that all coffee shops will be closed to tourists, and that the new law is in effect already or is definitively coming into effect.”


The Cannabis Retailers Association of Amsterdam released this statement to further extinguish the fears that tourists and coffee shop owners alike were starting to build with all of the media reports. Links to this press release are present on both Grey Area as well as the Rookies’ websites. “The concept of a ‘weed pass’ that would restrict tourists from visiting coffee shops in the Netherlands has been on the table for some time. Reports that such a pass will be applied in Amsterdam are, however, completely without foundation. The Mayor and Council of Amsterdam are radically opposed to such a scheme and it will not be implemented in the city. For over 30 years, coffee shops in Amsterdam have provided a safe and controlled environment for consumption of soft drugs.

” Put forward by the Dutch Justice Minister, Ivo Opstelten, the ‘weed pass’ is still at the proposal stage and will not be discussed by the Dutch Parliament until 2012. The Supreme Court equivalent in the Netherlands, the Council of State, has ruled that discrimination against tourists is outside of the law unless those tourists are responsible for more public disorder than residents. Within its ruling, the Council of State made an exception under which, in cases of severe public disturbance, mayors may discriminate against nonresidents provided that it can be proved they are responsible. Because coffee shops are notorious for their peaceful and non-violent ambiance — no coffee shop has ever been charged under a public order act — such an exception is somewhat academic.

Over the last year major media outlets were quick to the headlines with foreign tourist coffee shop bans, flooding the internet, papers and television with news reports alluding to their impending restrictions. This news certainly alleviates some of the panic that we needed to plan a trip to Amsterdam sooner than later if we wanted to experience or relive what Amsterdam has represented for over the past 30+ years.

These news reports released by major news sources across the globe such as the USA Today and the UK’s Daily Mail to name a few continued to report about the Netherlands’ coalition government spearheading their quest to curb drug tourism as part of an effort to fight crime and promote health. In some small municipalities, smoking marijuana in public has already been completely outlawed. Prior to these restrictions, you were always able to smoke pot anywhere you could smoke tobacco, as long as there were no clear signs preventing you from lighting up. Now some of the smaller cities and towns have forbidden it in the whole municipality.

“Much stricter rules will be applied about the distance of the coffee shop from schools,” says the current Editor of the Amsterdam tourist information and travel guide website amsterdam.info, who preferred to remain anonymous. “In principle, as far as I remember, coffee shops are not allowed within 250 meters. But, there are no rules in practice. Whether it is true walking distance or straight line, this could be much more severe for some shops because when you walk, you turn around the corners. More coffee shops will close, but most of them will probably move. Amsterdam is an old city with many small schools. There is now talk over the ‘close vicinity of schools’ and this gives the municipality a possibility to close most of the coffee shops, because in Amsterdam everything is close to anything. 250 meters is already a very sharp rule in this densely populated city that is covered with townhouses. This will diminish the number of coffee shops in the city centre.”

“It should be mentioned that the decision still has to be approved by the Raad van State, the Dutch Supreme Court to see if it violates article 1 of the Dutch constitution, which demands equal treatment for all people.
There will also be many challenges in bringing the so called pass system from a concept into a reality.”

Coffee shop policy is always a point of discussion and has existed for over 30 years. Buying cannabis in a shop is the equivalent of buying a loaf of bread or a bottle of wine on the way home from work. In that same way, people may pass by a shop and buy a gram of cannabis on the way home. It is a normal part of the social and economic fabric of society in Amsterdam. The idea of taking the shops away will be discussed, but it would be extremely unlikely for the clock to turn back 30 years and end a successful system.”

While some towns and cities within Holland may implement a foreign ban, in Amsterdam, this is not the case.

[geoffk]

“There is good news for all the cannabis connoisseurs who like to visit Amsterdam and enjoy the wide variety of product that is available from the Dutch capital’s many coffee shops. The Dutch Tolerance Policy, that provides the legislation under which the Dutch coffee shops can operate, was renewed on 1st July 2011 and will be valid until June 30th, 2015.” This means that the feared ‘weedpass,’ a card only available to Dutch citizens that would factually ban foreigners from buying product at coffee shops, can only be implemented through local legislation. Since city councils like Amsterdam do not want the weedpass scheme, this means it will not be possible to implement it for at least 4 years during which visitors from abroad can still freely and openly buy product from Dutch coffee shops.

While I cannot find the source of this quote, I have found it quoted as early as March of last year, which is too old for this subject matter. Do you have anything more recent? I don't mean a re quote by the way.

[A Leprechaun]

“There is good news for all the cannabis connoisseurs who like to visit Amsterdam and enjoy the wide variety of product that is available from the Dutch capital’s many coffee shops. The Dutch Tolerance Policy, that provides the legislation under which the Dutch coffee shops can operate, was renewed on 1st July 2011 and will be valid until June 30th, 2015.” This means that the feared ‘weedpass,’ a card only available to Dutch citizens that would factually ban foreigners from buying product at coffee shops, can only be implemented through local legislation. Since city councils like Amsterdam do not want the weedpass scheme, this means it will not be possible to implement it for at least 4 years during which visitors from abroad can still freely and openly buy product from Dutch coffee shops.

While I cannot find the source of this quote, I have found it quoted as early as March of last year, which is too old for this subject matter. Do you have anything more recent? I don't mean a re quote by the way.

the only place I have found it is here,no idea re the actual date. http://www.coffeeshopsamsterdam.com/

[joossy]

was renewed on 1st July 2011

I have been saying many times on this thread that the news has not changed as far as amsterdam goes since last summer only the news for the south has which will not effect amsterdam.

Because of the internet we live in age where we want news 24/7 but on this subject the news has not changed for Amsterdam for some time and because of this main stream media outlets have to make up rubbish to feed us all on.

the ‘weed pass’ is still at the proposal stage and will not be discussed by the Dutch Parliament until 2012.

[Twichaldinho]

Just thought i'd remind you all, that instead of getting all yer panties in a tangle, and calling for jooooooossssseeeyyy to be banned, you can block him/her/it with very little hassle. Thus making this thread exactly what you want it to be.... Half you folk are acting alot worse than joooosseeyysss single minded nonsence.......

Besides, anyone who thinks that allowing membership anywhere in Holland is fine as " its not Amsterdam" is an inconsiderate prick....P.R.I.C.K
Bong time.

[piedpiperofvice]

ok first of all jossy i hope you are right but it is obvious we should be a little worried...we can see throughout the ages that even if things are ridiculous, hard to enforce,unworkable, or just plain wrong humans will still plod along with some really poor ideas...see us drug war ad nauseum.... i do like what vertical square , ultimately, said(those 2 points that he made) .you had me worried at first when you were debating the merits of whether it is best for society or not.. i as a civil libertarian say who fuckin cares..unless it is so onerous to society that it will crack its foundation(think a nuke in every home defense arsenal or something crazy like that)) i say error on the side of freedom...as i have said once before i do not want my rights restricted to protect us from the lowest common denominator type of person.. there are a lot of idiots out there and because they can't handle it is no reason for me to be constrained...if they want to protect society from negative influences they can ban fatty or unhealthy food, cigarettes, alcohol, etc etc and forever etc.. (connection is of course those behaviors can bankrupt the health care system hurting society)...two canucks said he was a financial planner and he knew from experience that the people with money don't like the image of the dam...well as luck would have it my buddy is a financial planner in aspen ,colorado and most of his clients(he only handles people with a cool million or more to invest with his firm) are rich old hippies.. my mother is married to a rich jewish guy in his 60's . he and my mother both like to smoke up.. his friends for the most part also like to smoke weed.. i am going to generalize but most rich jews i have met..and i have met a lot ..like to smoke weed...so two canucks i am going to say not necessarily with regard to your point...i am a double income no kids and have a pretty decent amount of disposable income.. last 6 trips to europe over the last 5 years..poland(wife's home)..amsterdam ..amsterdam...amsterdam..amsterdam..france(wife insisted)....see the loyalty. i doubt some old retired prick who is so offended by the amsterdam drug scene is going to make repeated trips to amsterdam once they close down the coffeeshop scene.. he will go once and then somewhere else..people on this site go year after year.. some of us stay and eat at higher end places and spend much cash...even if on a modest budget you are still throwing consistent coin into the kitty that is the dam....anyway .. however, as noted by others the tourist money is really a drop in the bucket compared to the netherlands economy... they have a bunch of huge multinationals.. i would propose boycotting products from dutch companies as much as possible ..yes it is tough. they have unilever and a ton of other products that are not even easily identified....since the michael phelps controversy i have not bought one kelloggs product. no keebler elves shit ,cereals , pop tarts...did it do any good probably not because most stoners probably did not stick with it.. we must punish those who revoke freedoms wiht a hit to their pocketbook.. if the weed community could stick together we could at least hit their bottom line and inflict some damage..will it change things maybe not but it will show that we do matter and can strike back..seriously, high times can come up with a list of companies and products on the hit list and, hopefully, stoners worldwide can join together and make an impact announcing that we can mobilize and hurt those who would tread on us......you say it is unfair to hurt the netherlands since they were the first ones to show us a sensible model.. kind of ,however, they are backtracking where others(even my silly country the US, THE WORST OFFENDER OF ALL) are moving forward..we should not allow backtracking on our rights....i think marco or someone said that the decision of the dutch while not to be liked must be respected...well, if i was back in the slave days i would not have respected the rights of people who voted to retain slavery... i don't respect the vote of the muslim countries to keep their women subjugated either....get fucking organized and lash out at those who would turn back the clock...it has been said that the plan is to bankrupt the coffeeshops and end the shops existence altogether.. the shops will then be bought up at bargain prices and made into another clone establishment of which a million exist already...it is really time for george soros and other big financiers who support drug legalization to step up and subsidize the coffeeshops to ensure their survival until the climate can change back to the tolerant point of view.. i would ,also, hope that stoners the world over could contribute to a fund to help the coffeeshops stick it out without the foreign tourist.. i would love to see smoke pouring out of the ears of the christian democrats when their plan of bulldozing the coffeeshops is being stonewalled by a population greater than the netherlands.. i agree with the doomsayers who say once they are gone it will be hard to get them back.......so ,everyone, it is really time to add a strategy for what if? to the agenda...sure cali or colorado or prague etc may take it's place but it really sucks to lose the birthplace of the coffeeshop . a place that has been a model for what the rest of the world should strive for in mj policy..all because some tight ass assholes are ashamed that their city is thought of for drugs and hookers...obviously, even by their own admission the harm of coffeeshops is neglible or outweighed by the benefits...sorry for the harangue. i work nights and it is afternoon where i live and time to sleep. so excuse the scattered thoughts and poor composition.. i am fucking tired but really felt compelled to share my thoughts

[piedpiperofvice]

to be clear when i said if they want to protect society they can ban this and that i did not mean that they should .i was just noting that if you allow the govt to use that excuse then they can ban way too many things and create a really boring sterile society... no thank you... live free or die...

[spidergawd]

ok first of all jossy i hope you are right but it is obvious we should be a little worried...we can see throughout the ages that even if things are ridiculous, hard to enforce,unworkable, or just plain wrong humans will still plod along with some really poor ideas...see us drug war ad nauseum.... i do like what vertical square , ultimately, said(those 2 points that he made) .you had me worried at first when you were debating the merits of whether it is best for society or not.. i as a civil libertarian say who fuckin cares..unless it is so onerous to society that it will crack its foundation(think a nuke in every home defense arsenal or something crazy like that)) i say error on the side of freedom...as i have said once before i do not want my rights restricted to protect us from the lowest common denominator type of person.. there are a lot of idiots out there and because they can't handle it is no reason for me to be constrained...if they want to protect society from negative influences they can ban fatty or unhealthy food, cigarettes, alcohol, etc etc and forever etc.. (connection is of course those behaviors can bankrupt the health care system hurting society)...two canucks said he was a financial planner and he knew from experience that the people with money don't like the image of the dam...well as luck would have it my buddy is a financial planner in aspen ,colorado and most of his clients(he only handles people with a cool million or more to invest with his firm) are rich old hippies.. my mother is married to a rich jewish guy in his 60's . he and my mother both like to smoke up.. his friends for the most part also like to smoke weed.. i am going to generalize but most rich jews i have met..and i have met a lot ..like to smoke weed...so two canucks i am going to say not necessarily with regard to your point...i am a double income no kids and have a pretty decent amount of disposable income.. last 6 trips to europe over the last 5 years..poland(wife's home)..amsterdam ..amsterdam...amsterdam..amsterdam..france(wife insisted)....see the loyalty. i doubt some old retired prick who is so offended by the amsterdam drug scene is going to make repeated trips to amsterdam once they close down the coffeeshop scene.. he will go once and then somewhere else..people on this site go year after year.. some of us stay and eat at higher end places and spend much cash...even if on a modest budget you are still throwing consistent coin into the kitty that is the dam....anyway .. however, as noted by others the tourist money is really a drop in the bucket compared to the netherlands economy... they have a bunch of huge multinationals.. i would propose boycotting products from dutch companies as much as possible ..yes it is tough. they have unilever and a ton of other products that are not even easily identified....since the michael phelps controversy i have not bought one kelloggs product. no keebler elves shit ,cereals , pop tarts...did it do any good probably not because most stoners probably did not stick with it.. we must punish those who revoke freedoms wiht a hit to their pocketbook.. if the weed community could stick together we could at least hit their bottom line and inflict some damage..will it change things maybe not but it will show that we do matter and can strike back..seriously, high times can come up with a list of companies and products on the hit list and, hopefully, stoners worldwide can join together and make an impact announcing that we can mobilize and hurt those who would tread on us......you say it is unfair to hurt the netherlands since they were the first ones to show us a sensible model.. kind of ,however, they are backtracking where others(even my silly country the US, THE WORST OFFENDER OF ALL) are moving forward..we should not allow backtracking on our rights....i think marco or someone said that the decision of the dutch while not to be liked must be respected...well, if i was back in the slave days i would not have respected the rights of people who voted to retain slavery... i don't respect the vote of the muslim countries to keep their women subjugated either....get fucking organized and lash out at those who would turn back the clock...it has been said that the plan is to bankrupt the coffeeshops and end the shops existence altogether.. the shops will then be bought up at bargain prices and made into another clone establishment of which a million exist already...it is really time for george soros and other big financiers who support drug legalization to step up and subsidize the coffeeshops to ensure their survival until the climate can change back to the tolerant point of view.. i would ,also, hope that stoners the world over could contribute to a fund to help the coffeeshops stick it out without the foreign tourist.. i would love to see smoke pouring out of the ears of the christian democrats when their plan of bulldozing the coffeeshops is being stonewalled by a population greater than the netherlands.. i agree with the doomsayers who say once they are gone it will be hard to get them back.......so ,everyone, it is really time to add a strategy for what if? to the agenda...sure cali or colorado or prague etc may take it's place but it really sucks to lose the birthplace of the coffeeshop . a place that has been a model for what the rest of the world should strive for in mj policy..all because some tight ass assholes are ashamed that their city is thought of for drugs and hookers...obviously, even by their own admission the harm of coffeeshops is neglible or outweighed by the benefits...sorry for the harangue. i work nights and it is afternoon where i live and time to sleep. so excuse the scattered thoughts and poor composition.. i am fucking tired but really felt compelled to share my thoughts

For fucks sake grow some. EDIT. Cannabis

[abc123]

For fucks sake grow some.

..paragraphs?

[piedpiperofvice]

i ,also, must say it is really a pussy move to want to ban jossy or anyone... if someone is flaming you then use your brain and verbally dominate them with sound argument.. truly cowardly in my opinion to try to get someone banned because they offended you or whatever.. you can ignore them or use keen intellect to make them look the fool.. ban them..perhaps you should join geert wilders party or the christian party

[Slip & Sal]

Joosy did you read my article??? This is from it.

For this purpose, the Public Prosecution Service will amend the instruction and guidelines Opium Act before 1 July 2011.

could you be getting mixed up by this?

[piedpiperofvice]

spidergawd...not sure why i should grow some testicles...have some good ones,already... did i sound like a pussy ? sorry, this whole ban thing just pisses me off ...other dude, sorry about the lack of paragraphs. grammar ,punctuation, sentence structure,OBVIOUSLY, not my thing...any thoughts about the ideas presented. i will accept the no balls, lack of paragraph criticisms. don't really care about that. i care about the future of the dam and my good times

[geoffk]

spidergawd...not sure why i should grow some testicles...have some good ones,already... did i sound like a pussy ? sorry, this whole ban thing just pisses me off ...other dude, sorry about the lack of paragraphs. grammar ,punctuation, sentence structure,OBVIOUSLY, not my thing...any thoughts about the ideas presented. i will accept the no balls, lack of paragraph criticisms. don't really care about that. i care about the future of the dam and my good times

I'm not sure about the balls thingy, but make an effort when you post to be clear and concise. I'm not even going to bother to attempt to read what you posted, it'll kill my eyes. Even if Engrish is not your first language, you could write in complete sentences and use paragraphs, especially while debating.

[Old Timer]

sorry about the lack of paragraphs. grammar ,punctuation, sentence structure,OBVIOUSLY, not my thing

You must want people to read want you wrote, or you wouldn't have bothered writing it.
Why not edit it for 30 seconds, all you need to do is add a comma here and there and click enter a few times.
It really is too difficult to read as it is.

[piedpiperofvice]

spidergawd...not sure why i should grow some testicles...have some good ones,already... did i sound like a pussy ? sorry, this whole ban thing just pisses me off ...other dude, sorry about the lack of paragraphs. grammar ,punctuation, sentence structure,OBVIOUSLY, not my thing...any thoughts about the ideas presented. i will accept the no balls, lack of paragraph criticisms. don't really care about that. i care about the future of the dam and my good times

I'm not sure about the balls thingy, but make an effort when you post to be clear and concise. I'm not even going to bother to attempt to read what you posted, it'll kill my eyes. Even if Engrish is not your first language, you could write in complete sentences and use paragraphs, especially while debating.

noted.. after i catch up on sleep i will try to amend it...english not my first language,very funny