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Re: it's no toke!!
Posted: 2012-04-29, 3:11 pm

HolyShitBSE Power Kat
Posts: 542
Location: England, UK
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i saw this article this morning.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/tourists-banne ... Kg_G-E#_=_

can never tell if there is any truth in this shit though. i get my news here!

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Re: it's no toke!!
Posted: 2012-04-30, 1:14 am

TrickyKid
Posts: 114
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Yes, that's pretty much how it was reported everywhere in the UK.

But what's this about "the government has fallen" & "that's pretty much it for the weed pass"?

I'm confused!!
Wiet pass
Posted: 2012-05-01, 11:51 pm

AMSBIKER
Posts: 272
Location: UK
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Update re wietpaas

http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2 ... gs_and.php

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Re: it's no toke!!
Posted: 2012-05-02, 3:45 am

spanner
Posts: 36
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Personally I think most of the coffe shops can not survive with just 2000 Dutch only patrons.It's not like weed & hash are the only products they sell.Shops offer drinks & food.So really those 2000 Dutch only passes are going to make up the slack when the tourist is banned from entering the shops.I just can't see these coffee shops surviving with this weed pass.Especially when you now have a corporate gaint like Starbucks in the mix.Also the other place The Coffee Company.Not only will the shop lose out on weed/hash sales they will also lose on on food, drink & merchandise sales.

Wasn't it over 30 plus years now the Dutch created a safe enviorment to go purchase soft drugs which has worked so well sense than.There is a strong possiblity crime rate will go up with street dealers pan handling to tourist.Not only does it mean less revenue but more funds will be spent towards policing not only the shops but the under ground street dealings.The country is cryign the blues over money yet they are taking away that sure bet money maker.

Maybe this weed pass is a round about way the Dutch government is trying shut down most of these coffee shops.Once a shop closes it's door surely the shop owner will never be able to get there license back.I think it's the same idea with what they are trying to do in the RLD.Before you know it you will only have a few coffee shops left along with a extremley small RLD section.
Re: it's no toke!!
Posted: 2012-05-05, 3:06 pm

rich330
Posts: 16
Location: England
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i am going to Amsterdam for the 3rd time in a few weeks (18th-21st may) and i really cant wait! however i also have a stag do to organise for march/april 2013. it seems over the past few days from what i have read on here and the coffe shop free uk forums is that they are still determined to go ahead with the country wide ban by jan 2013

do you guys feel this will really happen? as i dont want to organise this stag do to take place in Amsterdam if it does, to be honest it just wont be the same as the stag is a huge weed smoker and half the group are regular smokers, along with the RLD closures i do not want to bring 10 guys to a very watered down Amsterdam compared to what i have been to 3 times in the past 10 years that is also telling us because we are British we are not welcome.

If it is likely to go ahead we will go elsewhere, im not going to risk it and would rather go to a country that welcomes us more, i know its a shame but i will never visit Holland again and may go a step further and never buy anything dutch/use dutch company (no drinking Amstel, flying with KLM) again either.
Re: it's no toke!!
Posted: 2012-05-05, 6:16 pm

Aardvark
Posts: 299
Location: U.K.
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rich330 wrote:
...and may go a step further and never buy anything dutch/use dutch company (no drinking Amstel, flying with KLM) again either.


What? That seems rather extreme.

All anyone can give you is their opinion (an eductated guess) as to whether or not this will eventually happen in Amsterdam. Nobody can give you a guarantee it will not happen in Amsterdam and give you the green light to book your trip.

Over the past few months, it's been looking increasing likely that it will happen in Amsterdam. Having said that, personally, I would be shocked if it was ever successfully implemented in Amsterdam.
Re: it's no toke!!
Posted: 2012-05-05, 7:47 pm

rich330
Posts: 16
Location: England
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i can understand it does seem extreme and dont mean to offend by it, but i feel the fact that i will be banned from going to a coffeeshop until i become a dutch national extreme aswell. its a very good way of making a tourist feel unwelcome

i guess i will have to keep a close eye in here and other forums and have a chat with people when im out there in a few weeks time, i do worry though that if it is put in place Amsterdam will suffer hugely and even once they realise it was a mistake and reverse it alot of good coffee shops would have been lost and with alot of the RLD and will never be the same again
Re: it's no toke!!
Posted: 2012-05-06, 1:29 pm

HolyShitBSE Power Kat
Posts: 542
Location: England, UK
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rich330 wrote:
i can understand it does seem extreme and dont mean to offend by it, but i feel the fact that i will be banned from going to a coffeeshop until i become a dutch national extreme aswell.


i agree with you here, but to be honest any amstel you drink in Britian isn't the real stuff (surely you can tell by taste?), so it's a dead protest anyway.

it does indeed look like grim times for the area we all love so much, and if it does come in along with the window closures i will be very, very sad but at least it will give me a damned good reason to go visit somewhere else for a change. As has been previously mentioned, there is no way to tell if this is going to sucessfully pan out or not, so all we can do is sit and wait, and hope! :D

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Re: it's no toke!!
Posted: 2012-05-09, 1:04 am

rich330
Posts: 16
Location: England
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bit of an update on this, interesting reading:
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/201 ... itting_bum
Re: it's no toke!!
Posted: 2012-05-19, 6:35 pm

DogsAfirePower Kat XXX
Power Kat XXX
Posts: 1337
Location: Michigan, USA
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Harvey Wallenbanger and I spoke with a coffeeshop manager and another local yesterday. According to them, the weed pass in Amsterdam was a done deal starting the first of the year. A number of coffeeshops already are not getting their license renewed.

The locals gave us good insight on the kinds of problems it causes. The town I live in is also a tourist destination and I can understand their views on this. It's not necessarily the weed; they just want they town back.

I was quite surprised. While I had heard about the weed pass thing for border towns, it appears that it is headed in Amsterdam's direction as well.

We all agreed that it would be catastrophic for the Amsterdam economy if the weed pass goes through, though. If it does go into effect, I hope that the effects are big and happen quickly. If so, it will be a lesson learned and things can return to "normal" pretty quickly. But if it takes too much time for people to see the economic effects, many places will not have the inertia necessary to recover and will close for good. And by places, I mean snack places and high-end restaurants, gift shops and name-brand stores, clubs, bars and many other establishments that depend on the huge volume of people that visit the city.

the dogs
Re: it's no toke!!
Posted: 2012-05-21, 10:54 pm

rich330
Posts: 16
Location: England
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i agree dogsafire, i just worry it will be too late by the time its in place and amsterdam we know could change forever

just got back today from a long weekend, this was my 3rd visit to the dam in about 10 years and first time i had been back since 2006 and the city felt much safer, must be nearly 90% drop in street dealers around the red light district and never felt threatened at all. go back nearly 10 years ago to my first visit and the RLD was full of dodgy dealers and every 5 seconds you heard 'coke,charlie,psst' and there were a few who got nasty and would threaten/mug you.this weekend i could count on one hand how many times i was offered drugs by these guys so 100% well done to Amsterdam there

im also sure that people were going out of there way to help us more this time, this was in supermarkets,trams,taxis and even airport staff! then the more obvious (6 guys)was the bars etc in the centre where there appeared to be more smoke friendly even with some turning a blind eye to tobacco

i dont mean this in a rasict way in any way shape or form but noticed quite a large amount of chinese tourists compared to previous visits,this will be good for the ecomony as near where i live they come by the bus load to oxford and the area with money to burn at an alarming rate!

only downside is price,this must be fast becoming the most expensive capital in europe with weed,beer and food expensive. beer was not so bad at 5 euro a large on average (was about 4 last time) but weed is nearly 3 times as much compared to nearly 10 years ago and eating out is also very pricey. however i would still pay these prices because i enjoy the freedom offered in this city :)
Re: it's no toke!!
Posted: 2012-05-22, 5:06 am

Lollipopz
Posts: 11
Location: U.K
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As a guy who's been before but with a mate 10 years ago it v.refreshing to hear its changed for the better. I wish to take my mrs but was wary as it did appear more dangerous back then. Glad to hear things have calmed down. Hopefully no more troublemakers will infiltrate the peaceful folk who like to enjoy the many wonders of this city/country
Cheers for the update peeps!

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Re: it's no toke!!
Posted: 2012-05-22, 1:17 pm

rich330
Posts: 16
Location: England
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its a far safer place than 10 years ago and even 5 years ago, every time i went for 3 nights over a weekend during the summer/peak season. 10 years ago=feared for my life at times, alwys watched my back in the RLD and harrassed every 5 seconds for drugs or money
5 years ago= an improvement, but still lots of dealers/crack heads just a few less
weekend just gone=dealers have all but gone, 90% drop and they seem to be replaced by a different group (maybe eastern european) they were there as i did get offered but said no and they left you alone, no harrassment etc. i saw about 3 dealers over my whole weekend (there were groups of men just hanging around but they never offered drugs, so just assumed they were bunch of friends like us)
and felt safe enough to clearly count my money in the RLD at 2am saturday morning,increased police patrols

now your biggest threat is a group of lads on a stag do/birthday party/general piss up. they are vocal and always have been but 95% of the time leave them alone and they leave you alone

it seems a shame with everything such as safety improved that amsterdam at its best its been in 10 years (my opinion) that we could lose this
Re: it's no toke!!
Posted: 2012-05-25, 8:06 pm

HolyShitBSE Power Kat
Posts: 542
Location: England, UK
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rich330 wrote:
felt safe enough to clearly count my money in the RLD at 2am saturday morning


probably not the best thing to do at any time mate haha

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Re: it's no toke!!
Posted: 2012-05-28, 9:52 pm

block
Posts: 458
Location: Texas 2
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I will be in Maastricht in 10 days and will give a full report on whats going on. There has been a lot of speculation and unconfirmed reports for several months now so it will be interesting to actually get boots on the ground and see whats rumor and whats fact.

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Re: it's no toke!!
Posted: 2012-05-29, 3:53 pm

andyduck
Posts: 2
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So this is a stupid question - but don't all the citizens of foreign countries have to pass through customs on the way back to their home countries? Is it legal to drive weed across borders in Europe? All the articles make it seem like people are coming over in droves to buy weed and then just driving home without issue. I would love to see weed legalized the world over, and it seems very hypocritical that other European nations would constantly criticize the Netherlands for being too permissive while at the same time failing to enforce their own laws.....
Re: it's no toke!!
Posted: 2012-05-29, 4:46 pm

potlover
Posts: 494
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No, you don't really have to pass through customs after Maastricht and Schengen treaties, controls are mild even in country that didn't ratify it nowdays.
Of course if you are young, with friends and driving back to your country with red eyes and an happy smile chances to be stopped increase, and i do believe that by law they can inspect your car to the last piece (sometimes leaving to you the re-assembly)

And no, it's not legal to transport weed.
From what i've heard many are getting it from there by hiding some kilos in truck tyres, but can't obviously confirm.

Btw, stopping marijuana traffic going outside of Netherlands is probably the last aim of the weed pass...

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Re: it's no toke!!
Posted: 2012-06-04, 1:09 am

Sam40
Posts: 44
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I heard a news item on Deutche Vella (sp?) radio, interviewing a Dutch businessman who said as much as he enjoyed toking up, he would not be self identifying as a stoner in order to obtain a weed pass. It makes perfect sense that a secondary distro market will be necessary for locals as well as tourists. It won't be very gezellig, but it will be do-able.
Re: it's no toke!!
Posted: 2012-06-28, 7:09 pm

northernmonkey
Posts: 11
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I am sure if this comes to pass there will be a solution in place to obtain weed shortly after if not immediately, for example , if i am staying in a hotel am i not a temporary resident? Maybe the hotel bar staff will have a pass they may use to purchase weed for tourists? or there will be a massive increase in street vendors, or maybe the coffeeshop owners will just ignore the ban in protest at its stupidity

who knows?

either way im sure we can still have lots of fun in a brilliant city :o)



love n light folks

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Re: it's no toke!!
Posted: 2012-06-28, 7:45 pm

potlover
Posts: 494
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I do believe that the criteria for getting a pass would be nationality (or having a dutch passport), not just being resident there for a few days. A system to avoid the so called drug tourism that allows pretty much everyone to buy it just like before is too stupid to be thought, even for a politician.

Not sure what's the main exception in international rights but the concept of residence should coincide pretty much all over the world with the place one usually lives at or where he/she has a relevant part of his/her personal or economical interest.
And no, i don't think weed can be considered that kind of interest.

Anyway, getting a second nationality and therefore another passport isn't much of a deal tbh, if they really want to put an end to the current situation they'll probably think about a way that actually works.

Quote:
there will be a massive increase in street vendors, or maybe the coffeeshop owners will just ignore the ban in protest at its stupidity


Agree, the impact in Amsterdam would be much bigger than in places where the pass is a reality yet, can't really think about this happening without some consequences.

Said that, if i have to break the law and get trough some real risk to get some weed i'll (continue to) do it here in my country.

Btw, let's not forget that no one is thinking about taking off the law that allow the detention of a tollerated ammount withouth being persecuted...

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