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You are here: Home News Dutch News Dutch border towns to shut coffee shops

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05/03/2009Dutch border towns to shut coffee shops

Closures in Roosendaal and Bergen-op-Zoom will take effect on 16 September.

THE HAGUE – Two Dutch towns Thursday said their eight cannabis "coffee shops" would be closed within the next six months to ward off the 25,000 marijuana-smoking tourists who flood their communities every week.

The towns of Roosendaal and Bergen-op-Zoom, which are near the border with Belgium, said in a joint statement the closures would take effect on 16 September.

The move was being taken to "put an end to the nuisance and crime related to trafficking and the consumption of drugs" generated by the 25,000 tourists, a statement said.

The mayors had announced in October 2008 their intention to withdraw the licenses of the coffee shops over security concerns.

At the time, a Roosendaal town hall spokeswoman said the coffee shops would be closed within two years.

The consumption and possession of small amounts of cannabis has been decriminalised in The Netherlands since 1976, as is its sale in licensed coffee shops. But its mass cultivation and large-scale sale is still forbidden.

AFP / Expatica


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