Amsterdam police will ‘attach no priority’ to enforcing a national ban on tourists buying cannabis when the law comes into force next year, the city’s mayor announced.
His comments put an end to months of uncertainty over a ban on foreign visitors purchasing cannabis at the shops that was introduced this year by a Dutch national government coalition which has since collapsed.
“It has been decided that Amsterdam law enforcement authorities will not attach any priority to enforcing the local residence requirement,” Amsterdam mayor Eberhard van der Laan wrote in a letter to the current government.
The previous Liberal-Christian Democrat coalition government which introduced the ban complained that coffee shops attracted crime and unwelcome visitors.
But the legislation was greeted with dismay by officials in Amsterdam, where more than 200 coffee shops are a major source of income.
Out of an estimated six to seven million annual tourists in Amsterdam “around one in three of them visit a coffee shop,” Van der Laan wrote.
“Our concern is that if we applied the residence requirement, they would buy cannabis products on the street.”
The current Dutch government has stopped short of repealing a ban that was welcomed by southern provinces in Holland where officials complained of traffic problems caused by ‘drug tourists’ from Belgium and Germany.
Amsterdam will impose some restrictions on cannabis use from January 1. Coffee shops will have to be at least 250 meters (yards) from schools. The city is also considering prohibiting use in public playgrounds, Reuters reported.