Netherlands - Dutch Government: Dutch drug policy will end.

[Lehendakari]

It is just very bad news. I had the wrong impression that europe was in the right direction to decriminalize. At least in my country, there is a lot of freedom, people smoke all around the country and police lately don't even give you a ticket, they just confiscate the drug.

This only benefit christian fascists and drug mafias. I wonder what will happen with the rates of cannabis use and abuse once is banned. I bet you all they increase to the levels of the UK and france. People will smoke more and they will smoke shit.

Let's all collect money for 10 years and buy an island in the south pacific.

[darawk]

Originally Posted by Alfa

At least we got rid of even worse machines everyone could fuck with. I want my paper back!

Heh, at least if everyone can fuck with them there's some element of democracy left....with Diebold, you can only fuck with them if God tells you that marijuana is bad but raping young boys is an awesome hobby.

[Riconoen {UGC}]

I'm with lehen on this one. Our own micronation that people will flock to to get away from oppresive drug policies. I see it as a utopia.

[Nagognog2]

It would be accused of being a trans-shipment point for drug smugglers and invaded. Then it would have a US-installed government and the citizens used as slave-labor for American corporations. Like Iraq.

Klub Halliburton - Vacation Island

[Nagognog2]

Same as in the Untied Snakes. They just stirred-up old fashioned supersticions and racial fears and spread it into politics through the church. Same formula the Bush Regime utilized.

On the positive side - the new Congress and Senate we have here in the Snakes is holding the Bush's feet to the fire. Latest one in was the Bush Regime using an official from the Exxon Oil corporation to censor documants from global-warming studies to silence scientists and prevent any action that would cost the oil corporations a penny. And why shouldn't they? After all, the end of the world is predicted in the Bible - so hastening this is God's Will (blow the trumpets)!

[Alfa]

Today the new Dutch government(Christian democrats, Christian union and Center spectrum Socialists) as one of the first things it has done, it has announced that all coffeeshops which are situated within a certain range of a school and all coffeeshops along border area's will be closed and that in the future every coffeeshops which is in violation of age restriction, alcohol law and several other regulations will be closed permanently and without warning. Note that the Netherlands is densely populated and there are schools everywhere. In cities like Amsterdam this would wipe out a great amount of coffeeshops. Most other coffeeshops are along the borders of the Netherlands.

[Nature Boy]

That's an absolute disgrace! How many coffeeshops will actually be taken out of service? What's the range?

Wouldn't it make far more sense to introduce mandatory ID checks and increasing the age for buying cannabis to 21 if they're so worried about schoolkids smoking the stuff? If this is the first thing on the Christian Democrats' agenda i.e. dealing with the non-existent threat of school-going "skunk junkies", get ready to deal with a lot worse. I wouldn't be very surprised if they started tackling magic mushrooms and other legal highs now soon. This news really sucks.

[meep]

Real Shame. Swim and friends were planning a trip there in March time.
Swim normally stays in the center of the redlight and would assume this would stay unchanged?

[Alfa]

This is a map of the Netherlands with it's cities. Towns, etc are not shown. You can see how much of Holland is in border area's.
st1500.jpg
Outside of Amsterdam 80% of the coffeeshops are in cities and towns in border area's.
The Netherlands has around 729 coffeeshops. This was about 1200 around 1997.

[Alfa]

Fuck, this is getting depressing. I just read the governing agreement of this government and it's worse: they have agreed to terminate the current cannabis policy as much as they can.

[namooP]

Can you help me out with a cite? I already have plane tickets......

[Nagognog2]

That would be one Louise Seveke. Killed in a sophisticated hit that had FBI/CIA written all over it.

[Woodman]

Ahhh, now I see...

FPF - The Netherlands - Nijmegen - Nov. 16th 2005 - Last night Louis Seveke, 41, a very well known political activist and secret service watcher, was killed in the center of the city of Nijmegen, in the eastern part of The Netherlands. According to an eyewittness "The killer was a professional, who after firing two shots walked up to the body, calmly checked whether his victim was really dead, and than just walked away." - ''Indications are that this is a political murder" journalist Gerard Legebeke said, interviewed on Dutch national radio. Legebeke is an investigating journalist of renown who lives in Nijmegen, and has known the killed political activist for years.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_S%C3%A9v%C3%A8ke

http://argentina.indymedia.org/news/2005/11/349308.php

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/11/16/news/dutch.php

[Alfa]

Pim Fortuyn was executed in a simular way. I was referring to him. He was elected post mortem to 26 seats in parliament. He was entering elections with no seats. But without him the party was steerless and rapidly vanished. Many things in his assassination do not add up.

AFAIK Seveke was executed while he was investigating the Dutch secret service for creating a terorist threat. May sound familliar to you?

During both assassinations computer/camera breakdowns took place, to the benefit of the assassins.

[Woodman]

It makes me wonder that if this is the type of "democracy" that the west is attempting to export to Iraq, then how is it any different from governance under Saddam?

[Alfa]

The west is trying to import, not export. The only thing they are exporting is a higher death count per month than Saddam had in 25 years. But that is another story.

[meep]

Sorry for the bump...

Swim will be going to Amsterdam in May. What state are the coffee shops in the main city? I'm not sure of the name of the area but we all know where Hill Street Blues cafe is Will this area/street still be alive and 'buzzing' ?

Swim is a massive fan of shrooms and was looking forward to many a bacon and mushroom toastie, can these still be bought? ( the shrooms, not the toastie =P )

[Alfa]

Yes, both shrooms and cannabis can still be bought. After over 30 years of liberal drug policy, the Dutch government can not change everything back at once. They are doing this step by step. This has already begun some years ago, but with the recent christian victory in elections, they are now trying much harder.

[meep]

Righto, thanks for that Alfa.

[The Doors]

I can't seem to understand why this is happening? Why is it that every time we make a step in the right direction, we always go back 10. This is ridiculous, Holland was a model for many of us... We have to lose all these conservative political parties that all gained tremendous grounds since 9/11, this is just hard to believe.

[Alfa]

Besides the closure of coffeeshops near schools and the border, the Dutch government now wants a smoking ban in coffeeshops. The smoking ban is meant to ban smoking in restaurants, etc. But the government is more than happy to be able to apply it to coffeeshops.
It remains to be seen if they get away with it as many members of the opposition do not agree with this.

[Nature Boy]

A smoking ban in coffeeshops? That could cause some serious problems. Perhaps the coffeeshops could adapt and build outdoor smoking facilities like a lot of pubs around Europe have done since many smoking bans have been brought in. The Dutch love their smoking though, whether it be tobacco or cannabis. It's very difficult to justify banning smoking in coffeeshops or brown cafés seeing as people come to those places in order to smoke exclusively ahead of anything else. These places aren't the same as restaurants or pubs.

[max_freakout]

This is not 'news', they've been saying the same thing for years, it never changes, they are NOT closing down the red light district at all i was there recently and i asked in the 'prostitute information centre' it is just an effort by a few people to close it down but it is failing because the guy that owns the buildings they are closing down is making an appeal. Holland is the same as its always been, it is just as tolerant towards drugs, the only coffeewshops that have closed down are the ones that flouted the rules, and that isn't exactly a bad thing imo


But they have to make it seem as if they are just about to do something to appease the rest of the world

[Alfa]

Well the Red Light District has to close at 2 AM now, instead of open all night & day.

[max_freakout]

Originally Posted by Alfa

Well the Red Light District has to close at 2 AM now, instead of open all night & day.

Really since when? I was there a few months ago and the ladies are there at all hours