Extra Credit for Friday, July 1st: Drugs in the Netherlands: Closed shops: Why tourists in the Netherlands may have to stop smoking pot

Drugs in the Netherlands
Closed shops
Why tourists in the Netherlands may have to stop smoking pot
Jun 23rd 2011 | AMSTERDAM | from the print edition

Although the Dutch society is known to be liberal due to legalized prostitution, gay marriage, and the Dutch "coffee shops", where cannabis, or marijuana, is freely sold to the public for private use, there may be an end to these famous coffee shops. The Dutch government is beginning to institute rules against about 660 coffee shops, and may force them to become members-only clubs that involve a strict registration process. On top of this, these shops will only be accessible to Dutch residents, not drug tourists who greatly contribute to the business. The official policy regarding Dutch coffee shops will not be instituted immediately, but debated in parliament in September. Since the southern provinces have the most cannabis tourists, they will be the first to be effected by these new laws that go against the previously liberal governmental rule. The reason the government wishes to institue these laws is to stop the “nuisance” of drug tourists and to fight against organized crime, defined as criminal activity on the part of an organized and extensive group of people. However, the Dutch government is led by liberals and backed by others who feel as though this act compares to the "incompatible" Islamic values, which recently tried to regulate prostitution. Even though this failed, it is another example of the evolution of Dutch liberalism. Derrick Bergman, head of a lobby group that fights for the legalization of marijuana called VOC, feels as though approval of the new guidelines will bring an end to the coffee shops. Despite the intentions of protecting the people, with this end, tourism would decline drastically due to the virtual end of the multi-million euro cannabis market. Also, new and worse criminality, like illegal drug trade and street dealing, will increase exposure to hard drugs; this would be even more dangerous to the population, and even if people believe they are buying marijuana, it could be laced with hard, dangerous, and addictive substances. Even though people are anticipating these new guidelines of being passed, they may not be. Earlier on, a coffee-shop owner of a southern Dutch city filed a case against an earlier decision by the city’s mayor to initiate a membership program for only those of the Dutch population. This case is currently in the hands of the highest Dutch appeal body, Council of State. Whatever the Council decides will impact the fate of the regulation act and affect whether it will be passed or declined.

http://www.economist.com/node/18867682
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/organized+crime