Drug policy of the Netherlands

The drug policy of the Netherlands officially has four major objectives: To prevent recreational drug use and to treat and rehabilitate recreational drug users. To reduce harm to users. To diminish public nuisance by drug users (the disturbance of public order and safety in the neighborhood). To combat the production and trafficking of recreational drugs.By contrast, most other countries take the point of view that recreational drug use is detrimental to society and must therefore be outlawed. This has caused friction between the Netherlands and other countries about the policy for cannabis, most notably with France and Germany. As of 2004, Belgium seems to be moving toward the Dutch model and a few local German legislators are calling for experiments based on the Dutch model. Switzerland has had long and heated parliamentary debates about whether to follow the Dutch model on cannabis, most recently deciding against it in 2004; currently a ballot initiative is in the works on the question. A new law came into force in the Netherlands requiring people to have membership cards to gain entry to coffeeshops, these cards are only available to residents of the Netherlands who need to apply for the card, (known as a 'weed pass') this was promptly adopted by several provinces including the cities of Maastricht and Eindhoven, there were proposals for this to apply to Amsterdam in 2012, although after fierce opposition from the Mayor of Amsterdam and many coffeeshop owners in Amsterdam the Government decided to allow the individual provinces to determine their own policy, of which Amsterdam rejected the membership cards and therefore the entry to coffeeshops and the sale of cannabis remains permissible to anyone over the age of 18. By test, a few coffeeshops in the south of the Netherlands were already forced to handle this new law. Residents are complaining about growing criminality problems due to drug dealers in the streets.If seen to fruition, which seems likely, the new laws will reduce tourism in the Netherlands dramatically and cost the exchequer millions in lost revenue and well-established business are forecast to go bankrupt. The club owners argue that the previous law opened the door for other European nations with relaxed attitudes on cannabis to capitalize on the niche in the market and take the valuable tourist resource. Maastricht’s association of coffee shop owners lost in June 2012 in a Dutch court a legal challenge of the new rules against the city's mayor. Amsterdam has decided to not enforce the new law and will continue to sell to tourists.In the last few years drug tourism and certain strains of cannabis with higher concentrations of THC have challenged the former policy in the Netherlands and led to a more restrictive approach; for example, a ban on selling cannabis to tourists in coffee shops suggested to start late 2011.In October 2011 the Dutch government proposed a new law to the Dutch parliament, that will put cannabis with 15% THC or more onto the list of hard drugs. If the law comes into effect, it would prohibit ""coffee shops"" from selling cannabis of that potency. The government finds motivation from its experts' assertions, that cannabis of that strength have an ""unacceptable risk"" associated with its usage. Today, about 80% of the ""coffee shops"" sell, among their products, such kind of cannabis.While the legalization of cannabis remains controversial, the introduction of heroin-assisted treatment in 1998 has been lauded for considerably improving the health and social situation of opiate-dependent patients in the Netherlands.