Dutch Coffee Shops May Not Sell Pot To Foreigners

text size A A A
December 17, 2010

The European Court of Justice says Dutch authorities have the right to ban coffee shops from selling pot to foreigners. The idea is to stop foreigners from entering cafes that sell pot. Officials were tired of drug tourists coming to town just to get high.

Copyright © 2010 National Public Radio®. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.

STEVE INSKEEP, host:

Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep.

The Netherlands is cracking down on a special kind of immigration. The Dutch are tired of tourists who come just to take advantage of the lax laws on smoking pot. Now, a European court has upheld a signature Dutch initiative. The Dutch authorities are allowed to ban foreigners from cafes that sell marijuana. Only locals may enter those establishments after they obtain a document that's being called a weed passport.

It's MORNING EDITION.

Copyright © 2010 National Public Radio®. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to National Public Radio. This transcript is provided for personal, noncommercial use only, pursuant to our Terms of Use. Any other use requires NPR's prior permission. Visit our permissions page for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio.

 

More Europe

Podcast + RSS Feeds

Podcast RSS

  • Europe
     
  • Morning Edition
     
 
 
 

Comments

Discussions for this story are now closed. Please see the Community FAQ for more information.

 

NPR thanks our sponsors

Become an NPR Sponsor

podcast

Foreign Dispatch Podcast

Foreign Dispatch Podcast

A weekly podcast of the biggest news and best stories from NPR's foreign correspondents from around the world.

Subscribe