A DUTCH COURT IS TO decide today if tourists should be banned from cannabis cafés.
A regional ban is due to take effect in May, while the nationwide ban will come into effect by the end of the year.
Dutch people will still be able to use the cafés, though they may have to register for a controversial ‘weed pass’; café owners opposing the ban say that people shouldn’t have to register for the drug.
However, as the BBC reports, some café owners have challenged the ban, saying it is discriminatory against foreigners. They say they will bring their case to the European Court of Human Rights if the Dutch court rules against them today.
As GlobalPost reported late last year, café owners in Maastricht had attempted to appease concerns over the level of tourists who visit the Netherlands primarily for the cafés by turning foreign residents away from their doors.
Officials in the border cities where the ban is being introduced first say that their residents are increasingly concerned about drug dealers being drawn into the areas by the cannabis café culture.
There have also been complaints about night-time noise and traffic congestion, as the AFP reports.
There are around 700 of the coffee shops throughout Holland and although cannabis is not legal, selling drugs through them has been decriminalised and personal possession of less than 5g of cannabis is tolerated by police.
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