Somebody sent me this link and thought it would be of interest to all the Ignatzmicers out there...

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id ... _article=1

Whoa Nellie

so after reading this.. a question..

if a shop will only sell you 5 grams a day, what issues are there if a customer went to one coffeshop to purchase 5 grams, then another to purchase 5 grams, and so on? Is the law/rule 5 grams per day per customer per coffeeshop?

the article said the systems are not linked to each other, but i wonder if they will one day.

interesting article, thanks for sharing!

I must say I'm not terribly surprised in some ways, and it is obviously disappointing in others. At Willie Wortels Sativa in Haarlem right near the station they have a similar system set up (not sure if it is actually functioning). You register ID at the counter and you enter the seated part of the coffeeshop via a turnstile activated by fingerprint scan. This system doesn't check buyers though. Other shops have locked doors with a buzzer entry. Attempting to restrict under 18s (or under 21s as with one of our neighbourhood shops in Amsterdam) not exactly a new phenomenon, this just represents a new and potentially pernicious level.

I can understand that Maastricht is in a difficult position and the coffeeshops in an even more precarious one. So if this issue of them attracting underage customers and unwanted hard drugs dealers is indeed as much of a problem as reported then a tighter enforcement policy is logical. I may not like it but -- let's be honest now -- if it keeps it quasi-legal for adults, as it should be, rather than shops getting closed down, then I would have to reluctantly support it initially. Think of everywhere you can't get weed so readily and think what you would give to only have to show a legitimate ID?

The question I have obviously is what about legitimate tourists? I presume you can register on the spot and purchase. So long as I can still go to Heaven 69, I don't mind.

What I would ask for though is some sort of assurance that the data stored would be encrypted and some transparent agreement that the data would only be used for that singular purpose and inaccessible except under the most grievous legal circumstances, and then limited to need-to-know only.

As for limits, if the shops aren't linked, you could buy 5gr from each. Carrying that much (5 x 15 = 75gr) could (would?) be an issue though if you have reason to encounter the police. "No, listen, my glaucoma is really bad." ;)

Make no mistake, movements are afoot all around the Netherlands to assert tighter control over soft drugs. This measure at least seems to offer the shops some means of further existence, but whether it is a finger in the dike or a sharp poke in the eye remains to be seen I suppose.

-paniked