Update: Some people are saying the Dutch will just ignore these bans, especially in Amsterdam.
Well it’s finally going to happen! Next year the Dutch are banning all smoking in all coffeeshops, as well as bars and restaurants. This will help the Dutch comply with EU laws. Other countries have had to do the same. Whether or not this will mean you can’t light up anymore is still open to debate as coffeeshop owners insist the ban is only on tobacco. Of course nearly all Dutch smoke their cannabis mixed with tobacco. So now you can’t buy booze and you can’t smoke in Coffeeshops, the only thing left is to purchase cannabis and I guess sit there and look at it…
Have fun in Amsterdam while you still can!!!
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – A Dutch smoking ban will come into force in July next year for all restaurants and cafes — including coffee shops where cannabis is the top attraction, the government decided on Friday.
“Coffee shops will be treated in the same manner as other catering businesses. They will be smoke-free,” Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende told NOS television.
“Coffee shops will be treated in the same manner as other catering businesses. They will be smoke-free,” Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende told NOS television.
“It would have been wrong to move towards a smoke-free catering industry and then make an exception for coffee shops. People would not have understood that.”
Establishments will not in fact have to be completely smoke-free. Proprietors will be allowed to set up a separate room or glass partition behind which people can smoke, but customers will not be served there to protect staff.
“Employees should not have to work in an environment were they are constantly exposed to the harmful effects of smoking,” Balkenende said after the cabinet’s decision on Friday.
Amsterdam’s renowned coffee shops, where marijuana can be smoked openly in a relaxed atmosphere, are one of the city’s big draws for tourists.
Coffee shop owners argue that the ban only applies to tobacco and was unlikely to hit them hard.
Whilst commonly mixed with tobacco, marijuana can also be smoked on its own, especially in pipes, vaporisers and other contraptions.
Soft drugs are officially banned in the Netherlands but under a policy of tolerance, buyers are allowed to have less than 5 grams of cannabis in their possession.