--- title: Weed Be Gone: Will Amsterdam Ban Pot for Tourists? | TIME description: As Amsterdam officials threaten to outlaw the sale of marijuana to foreigners in the city's coffee shops, owners and cannabis enthusiasts hope the law goes up in smoke canonical: https://time.com/video/ZhNVHeak/ og:title: Weed Be Gone: Will Amsterdam Ban Pot for Tourists? og:description: As Amsterdam officials threaten to outlaw the sale of marijuana to foreigners in the city's coffee shops, owners and cannabis enthusiasts hope the law goes up in smoke og:url: https://time.com/video/ZhNVHeak/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/ZhNVHeak/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Weed Be Gone: Will Amsterdam Ban Pot for Tourists? twitter:description: As Amsterdam officials threaten to outlaw the sale of marijuana to foreigners in the city's coffee shops, owners and cannabis enthusiasts hope the law goes up in smoke twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/ZhNVHeak/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # Weed Be Gone: Will Amsterdam Ban Pot for Tourists? > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: Weed Be Gone: Will Amsterdam Ban Pot for Tourists? [Watch (HLS stream): Weed Be Gone: Will Amsterdam Ban Pot for Tourists?](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ZhNVHeak.m3u8) (3:23)  _Published 2011-03-02. As Amsterdam officials threaten to outlaw the sale of marijuana to foreigners in the city's coffee shops, owners and cannabis enthusiasts hope the law goes up in smoke_ --- Jul 27, 2023 3:10 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [Amsterdam's First National Climate Change March Draws 40,000 People](/video/0mw6FriT/) ### Amsterdam's First National Climate Change March Draws 40,000 People [Mubarak's Gone, But So Are the Tourists and Their Money](/video/t7jvTexN/) ### Mubarak's Gone, But So Are the Tourists and Their Money [Party While You Pedal: Beer-Biking in Amsterdam](/video/Y6Tzkom3/) ### Party While You Pedal: Beer-Biking in Amsterdam --- ## Transcript >> This is the 420 café, a hot spot in downtown Amsterdam. For few Euros, you can order from over 10 different types of marijuana. >> Yes, hello. This is the rica. This is the hash joint. And these are the marijuana joints. >> It's one of more than 200 similar shops in the Dutch capital. >> Of course the coffee shops in Holland are special as being a open, visible outlet where people break the law. >> Although it isn't legal, until now, the Dutch police has turned a blind eye to coffee shops that sell marijuana. But that may be about to change. While in the US, more and more states are considering legalizing marijuana, the Dutch government, wants to turn coffee shops into " members only" clubs, Dutch members that is. The idea is to clean up the image of the country and reduce the nuisance caused by drug tourism. >> The thinking behind this that my party in the central administration wants to reduce the use of drugs and also especially reduce the use of drugs by youngsters. >> But this move could seriously hurt the tourism trade. Nearly 16 million visitors come to Amsterdam each year and about a fourth of them come specifically to buy and consume the weed and hash in these smoky shops. 420 café owner, Michael Veling argues that the coffee shops don't just provide a safe haven for soft drug users. They also bring much needed money into the economy. >> If they were able to implement a fast system in the coffee shop that would be a huge glow to tourism in Amsterdam. At least a quarter of all the foreign traffic has to do with the visit to the coffee shop. And we're talking big bucks here. >> Rhode Island native Jon Foster, who owns another coffee shop, also disapproves of the government's plans. >> Well, obviously, all the financial benefits of the coffee shop industry in the Netherlands will go back into the underground world so it's a very unanalyzed move. >> The new law could go into effect as early as 2012. Putting an end to 30 years of soft drug tourism in the Netherlands and leaving nowhere to go to this cannabis tourist. >> The reason we came out here is because the laws out here allow us to enjoy ourselves. I think that if Amsterdam outlawed it here, I'd be pretty upset because-- then there's no-- >> here cause it's a nonhostile environment and people seem to come here, and everyone seems to be enjoying themselves. And I don't think there's any reason it should be eliminated. >> In Amsterdam, this is Mariana Keller for TIME video. ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Weed Be Gone: Will Amsterdam Ban Pot for Tourists?","description":"As Amsterdam officials threaten to outlaw the sale of marijuana to foreigners in the city's coffee shops, owners and cannabis enthusiasts hope the law goes up in smoke","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/ZhNVHeak/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2011-03-02T17:04:43.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ZhNVHeak.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/video/ZhNVHeak/","duration":"PT3M23S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/video/ZhNVHeak/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}} ```