Europe travel guide

Threat to Amsterdam's coffee shops

Amsterdam, famed for its tolerant attitude towards cannabis, could have one in five of its coffee shops where cannabis can be smoked legally, forced to close under a new law.

Amsterdam’s city council has said 43 of 228 sites must close by the end of 2011 because they are within 250m of a school. This includes the famous Bulldog coffee shop, a popular coffee shop with tourists which is located in a former police headquarters on the Leidseplein.

Britain’s Independent newspaper reports that three Canadian visitors were shocked by the news. One said: "We come here twice a year, we fly thousands of miles, spend probably €4,000 while we are here. It's the place to be!"

The newspaper says that the headmistress of a nearby school, Margriet Bosman, was equally unimpressed by the new measure: "This is just for show. Children will get their drugs if they want to anyway, and closing the shops, which are quite regulated, is not a very good solution."

Amsterdam's mayor, Job Cohen, is in favour of permitting the sale of soft drugs. "There should be a system... in which it is clear where soft drugs come from," he said. Many Dutch also want the tolerant approach to remain in place - a recent newspaper poll shows 80 per cent of Dutch against coffee shop closures.

Meanwhile, there are plans for a cannabis plantation to go before the Dutch cabinet. The city of Eindhoven has unveiled a plan to set up a cannabis plantation to supply marijuana to its coffee shops. At a "weed summit", dozens of Dutch mayors have urged the government to back the pilot project in an effort to clamp down on the criminals who supply the drug.

The Netherlands allows for the possession of less than 5g of marijuana and its sale in coffee shops, but bans the cultivation and supply of the drug to these shops. This restriction, say the Dutch mayors, has spawned an illicit industry worth €2bn (£1.7bn) a year.

"It's time that we experimented with a system of regulated plantations so we can have strict guidelines and controls on the quality and price," Rob de Gijzel, the Mayor of Eindhoven, told the Dutch newspaper Volkskrant. "Authorities must get a grip on the supply of drugs to coffee shops."

This article was written for TravelSavvy Europe by Bob Cartwright. If you know of an interesting European travel related news story, please get in contact.