Fed up with thrill-seeking German drug tourists, the Netherlands has decided to turn the hundreds of coffee shops which line its border into German-free zones.
The plan -- which would involve ordering coffee shops in areas bordering Germany to serve only Dutch residents in possession of valid "membership cards" -- is causing a stir.
But the justice ministry and local officials say they will press ahead. The problem, they insist, is becoming unbearable.
Thousands of Germans visit every day to take advantage of the Netherlands' fabled coffee shop culture. The result is that dozens of towns have been transformed into open-air drug supermarkets, stalked by aggressive drug dealers and criminals.
"Thousands of young Germans, especially schoolchildren, cross into the Netherlands," said Victor Holtus, a justice ministry spokesman.
"One of the options we're looking at is to have coffee shops which only serve people who live in the Netherlands. That's what we want to do."
The problem, he says, is at its worst in Venlo. Nestled on the banks of the river Maas in the south of the country, this town of 90,000 people is just five minutes' drive from the German border and is awash with drugs, dealers and tourists. Five million Germans live within 48km, and as many as 4,000 of them visit daily.
On the Maaskade embankment, coffee shop windows are packed with books on drug use and drug paraphernalia.
On the street, dealers or "runners" compete for business.
As soon as a new car pulls up the young men stroll up to the window. "Hashish, marijuana, cocaine?" one dealer asks a German couple in an Audi, before making an exchange.
"It's not allowed over there, but here it's tolerated," says Jamal, 25, one of the runners. "This whole trade runs right along the border from north to south. For those who smoke, I can tell you, Venlo is paradise."
The Dutch government's plan to get rid of the German drug tourists is angering the dealers.
"They can't do it, and if they do, everyone and everything will go underground and on to the streets," says one coffee shop owner.
Dealers are also scornful of claims that their business creates a threatening atmosphere, and accuse the authorities -- who closed 50 illegal coffee shops last year in Venlo -- of being too heavy-handed.
"This government has been very difficult," says Soma, 20, who describes himself as a political refugee from Somalia and a drug dealer. "People only want to make money here. The government is not fair. They just want to be more in control so that they can tax us. It's all about money."
Dutch law stipulates that up to 5gm of drugs can be sold over the counter in a licensed coffee shop to anyone over 18, but many German customers are in search of much larger quantities.
The runners and the illegal coffee shops, of which there are estimated to be around 65 in Venlo, are therefore plugging a large gap in the market.
As night falls Oase, one of the town's official coffee shops, is doing a roaring trade. The lights are dimmed, German rap blares from the radio and young Germans have collapsed into the blue and beige sofas.
Although the two Dutchmen work fast distributing the hashish and pre-rolled joints in little plastic sealed bags, the queue never seems to go down.
Outside, Leopoldus, a retired solicitor in his 60s, peers into the window. "I don't like it at all," he says. "We are liberal and open-minded, but you have to make a distinction between the provinces here in the south and the west. We are more conservative here. I can understand soft drugs, but these people are doing hard drugs too."
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
RSS