Today weed lovers woke up to bad news. Amsterdam city hall put out a statement yesterday with its plan to limit cannabis consumption in the capital, on the grounds that cannabis tourism is sending demand in the soft drugs market through the roof.
Amsterdam wants to ban tourists from coffeeshops
Demand keeps shooting up in the Dutch capital, and the plan to cut licences and step up closures has already been running for a decade. “We have seen a lot of groups of young people who only come to Amsterdam to go to the coffeeshops”, the mayor pointed out. Over the last decade the number of coffeeshops has dropped from 283 to 166.
With this measure, which aims to keep the coffeeshops open to locals only, it is calculated that around 77 venues will be needed to supply residents. Practically a third of all the coffeeshops in the country are in Amsterdam which, in the politicians' view, is a big incentive for foreign tourists.
They say this kind of tourist tends to cause hassle for residents after consuming in a city that wants to wipe out its cannabis reputation and make more of its culture. The measure could be controversial, especially on the economic side: it is very hard to quantify what share of tourism GDP cannabis accounts for, but the numbers are scary just to think about. It looks like the stoner army is raising its joints, and there are already campaigns collecting signatures to stop the measure.
Here at High As we do not support or encourage vandalism or bad manners, and although there are bound to be tourists who cause a nuisance, you cannot generalise and lump everyone together. There is still a lot of stigma around weed, and to change it we have to be aware as a community that we should not lose our respect anywhere in the world.
If you have ever been to Amsterdam and lived the coffeeshop vibe, this news will have made you sad; and if you have not been yet, you might be about to miss your chance. Whether you have been or not, you can sign the petition and do your bit so they do not shut down one of the few stoner edens we have left.
Do you reckon the measure is over the top, or do you get where the locals who are fed up with tourists are coming from? Tell us in our stories.
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